Paul Keeps Good Company

They say it is possible to know something about a person by judging the quality of their friendships. It speaks volumes that the only people who have come to the defense of Paul Mason are either a) non-existent, b) equally crooked, and/or c) the disgraced Chancellor who hired him.

Setting aside the Chancellor, as she has conveniently done for herself, the public defense of Paul Mason has included three “people.”

Mark Townsend

Townsend Marketa was the N&R commenting alter ego of the Assistant General Counsel at VF Corporation Mark Townsend. Once you recover from the profoundly clever pseudonym (I mean, who could ever make the connection with anything less than super spy code breaker skills…or 2 seconds of spare time) you might begin to wonder why Mark is so interested in calling all of the faculty at UNCG stupid. On top of that, he nearly immediately regretted his comments in response to News & Record articles and removed all of them from the page. But, not before intrepid blogger Billy Jones got screen grabs. I wonder if it is VF policy to have their executives disparaging one of the largest employers in their hometown area?

Here’s the connection between Mark and Paul:

Paul Mason, Director, Corporate Communications

VF Corporation

Public Company; 10,001+ employees; VFC; Apparel & Fashion industry

2006 – 2011 (5 years)

It was here that Mason built his skills using the court system to get rid of unwanted employees. Here where his name still invokes such fear that people will not speak on the record about their experiences. Here where Mason and Townsend engaged in whatever dirty work has bonded them together in a slimy brotherhood.

Dan Shriner

Danny boy…well, what can I say. This is the lone supporter of Mason who still chooses to vent his spleen in the News & Record comments section and he’s an angry little boy. He mostly trolls, stating things that are incorrect in the great tradition of bullshit artists everywhere. For a man who lives in Michigan he shows an awful lot of interest in our humble little institution…is he just a big hearted Samaritan who has been touched by the plight of poor wittle Paulie, a fellow human being?

I guess it could have been that. Actually though, Shriner used to be a journalist but then he got fired from his paper (The Flint Journal) in Flint for making false accusations against a local business owner. He clearly hasn’t learned much…although in his defense at least this time he’s making false accusations against business owners at a much greater distance. So, I guess that’s a start. He now spends his days having his photo taken on yachts and spewing nonsense at Greensboro’s paper.

He may, or may not, have learned to overlook things such as truth and justice during his involvement with the white supremacist movement in the early 1980s.

In any case, Paul and Dan know each other from Mason’s past (during the white supremacist phase Dan had, no less…) as reporters for Newhouse Newspapers. And they are both as crooked as the day is long and mean to boot, so naturally, they got along. Dan’s still out clubbing the bushes for his friend – it’s a beautiful story of loyalty and love, really.

From Mason’s LinkedIn profile:

Paul Mason, Reporter/Business Reporter

Newhouse Newspapers

1985 – 1992 (7 years) Charlotte, NC; Flint, MI, Saginaw, MI

Still though, that’s not a lot of friends to have developed over such a long and varied career. Compare that to the number of people who have come out in support of the UNCG3 – some are friends and colleagues but some are people who have just seen the situation for the farce that it is.

Besides, Mark has really disappeared from the scene, so now it’s just Paul and Dan to the bitter end.

And I think that end will be bitter indeed.