B8 SUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2019 S LATIMES.COM
The Honorable Paul Galbraith Flynn
June 2, 1939 - August 10, 2019
Paul Galbraith Flynn passed away at home in Santa Barbara, California,
surrounded by his family after a 10-month battle with esophageal cancer. Born in
West Hartford, Connecticut, he was a proud alumnus of Loomis Chaffee college
prep in Windsor, Connecticut, and then attended Georgetown University where
he sang bass a cappella with the Chimes and earned a B.A. in U.S. History in
1961.
Paul served from Ensign to Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy in the Western Pacific
1961-65, before earning his J.D. in 1968 from the University of San Francisco
School of Law, San Francisco, CA. He was an associate at O’Melveny & Myers
1968-71 and then Assistant U.S. Attorney 1971-78, and Chief Assistant U.S.
Attorney 1978-80 for the district of CA in Los Angeles. From 1985-89 he was
a Professor of Law at Pepperdine University, School of Law. In 1989 he was
appointed by Governor Deukmejian as a Superior Court Judge in Los Angeles
County where he served on the bench for 20 years, adjudicating criminal cases.
Later he moved to the Santa Monica court system, where he presided over civil
matters because the 3-strikes law required him to impose sentences with long
prison terms for offenses he did not believe were warranted. As a judge he
was known to run an efficient, well-organized courtroom balanced with humor,
kindness and authority. He expected lawyers to be prepared, succinct and “to
understand the gravity of certain issues and the minor nature of others.”
He met and married Christina Wendel in 1961 while both attended Georgetown.
They had three children: Bridget Flynn Walker, Ph.D., Sean Flynn, and Deirdre
Flynn, Ph.D., who survive him along with seven grandchildren. Paul’s brother
David Flynn also survives him. In 1971 he met and married Kee Ralphs Flynn,
who survives him. They shared 48 years of love, travelled the world, and resided
in Pacific Palisades, CA, before retiring in Montecito, CA.
Paul brought people together. He presided over the marriages of more than
100 friends and family members. He loved people and all of his friends and
family first and foremost. He possessed a special charm and ease with people of
all walks of life and had an infectious sense of humor and wit that made him the
guy everyone wanted to know and love.
He was an avid golfer and a proud member of The Valley Club of Montecito
(where the flag flew at half-mast in his honor after his passing) and The Los
Angeles Country Club. We all shed many tears and hold happy memories of him
close to our hearts. We will miss him deeply and carry his spirit with us.
Memorial services will be announced soon. In lieu of flowers, donations in
the Judge’s memory can be made to the Legal Aid Foundation of Santa Barbara
County online at http://www.lafsbc.org/donate or by mailing a check to: Legal Aid
Foundation of Santa Barbara County, 301 E Canon Perdido St., Santa Barbara,
CA 93101 (payable to Legal Aid Foundation of Santa Barbara County, memo: In
memoriam - The Hon. Paul G. Flynn).Arthur G. Bragg
December 3, 1930 - August 25, 2018
In Memoriam: Arthur “Art” Bragg
World-class Track & Field Athlete,
U.S. Olympic Trials Winner, 1952
Morgan State University Athletic Hall of Fame, 1974
State of Maryland Athletic Hall of Fame, 1975
Forever loved and missed!
Marie and son, Arthur G. Bragg, Jr.OBITUARY
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placeanad.latimes.com/obituariesShareyourlovedone’sstory.In partnership withJohn P. Timmons
June 10, 1959 - August 7, 2019
John P. Timmons was born in Santa Monica,
California on June 10, 1959. He passed away on
August 7, 2019. He is lovingly remembered by his
wife of 37 years, Tamala L. Timmons; his son, Alex
J. Timmons; his mother, Iris Wright Timmons; his
three sisters, Mary (Chris) King, Ellen (Desmond)
Lynch, Edie (Jeff) Denning; his brother, Andy
(Linda) Timmons; his in-laws, Montie (Ronn)
Westhart, David (Kathryn) Crafton, Kathy (Dean)
Hanson, Mike (Brandy) Crafton; and his numerous
nieces, nephews, and friends. He is predeceased
by his father, John P. Timmons, Jr. John was a
devoted father and husband, who served his family
with love and care.
He provided for his family through his highly
regarded employment law practice at Timmons,
Owen, Jansen & Tichy Inc., where he will be
missed by his partners and Patti Harmon, who
was his office manager and “work wife.” John was
a graduate of Servite High School, the University
of California, San Diego and the University of the
Pacific McGeorge School of Law. He was admitted
to the practice of law in California in 1985.
John lived his life exuberantly. He loved a
good scotch and a good debate. His home was
always full of life, including an impressive array
of saltwater fish, exotic cats, and fluffy dogs. He
often enjoyed outside pursuits like golf, cycling,
and skiing, and spent considerable time in his busy
schedule with his son, Alex, at pitching lessons
and other athletic endeavors. John also was a
man of fortitude. He once tore a knee ligament
while skiing on expert terrain. He finished the run
anyway. John lovingly supported his family by
encouraging them to pursue their passions. As a
result, Alex has developed considerable artistic
abilities through both music and the visual arts.
One memory perfectly captures John’s enthusiasm
for life. In his old home in downtown Sacramento,
John had a sophisticated (i.e., loud) home-theater
system. He also had a copy of the 1995 movie
Apollo 13. I remember watching over and over the
launch sequence from that movie. The subwoofer
during the rocket launch would shake the entire
house, and a big, cheesy grin would smear itself
across John’s face. Of course, Tamala would then
come out and comment about how the noise was
tormenting the poor cats. John found the joy in the
little things in life. It was infectious, and he will be
sorely missed. The world is just a little bit darker
from his passing.
Rest in God’s peace and grace, John.have allowed providers to
refuse care to some patients.
DaVita and Fresenius de-
clined to comment and di-
rected questions to Kathy
Fairbanks, spokeswoman
for the Dialysis Is Life Sup-
port coalition, which in-
cludes dialysis providers, in-
dustry groups, patients and
caregivers. She said the dial-
ysis industry isn’t the only
stakeholder trying to influ-
ence the political process.
Groups supporting the
measure, including large in-
surance companies and la-
bor unions, also are spend-
ing big, she said. For in-
stance, a committee formed
and funded by the Service
Employees International
Union-United Healthcare
Workers West to support
last year’s initiative — and
challenge the dialysis indus-
try and its profits — spent
$580,000 in the first half of
this year.
The $2.5 million in politi-
cal spending by the dialysis
industry from January to
June falls into two catego-
ries: lobbying the Legisla-
ture, and campaign contrib-
utions to support candi-
dates and influence public
opinion. Campaign spend-
ing made up about $1.3 mil-
lion of the total.
DaVita accounted for the
biggest chunk of the cam-
paign spending: $580,000.
Fresenius spent $270,000.
These contributions
went to 48 of the state’s 80
Assembly members and 21 of
the state’s 40 senators, pri-
marily to their prospective
2020 or 2022 campaigns.
Of the 69 legislators who
received money from DaVita
and Fresenius, Assembly-
man James Ramos (D-
Highland) got the most:
$16,800 in the first half of the
year.
Of that, $12,100 came
from Fresenius, mostly in in-
stallments of $2,000 to $3,000
at a time, leading up to the
bill’s Assembly floor vote
May 22. Ramos was one of 15Assembly members who
voted against the bill.
With a $1,700 payment in
June, Fresenius reached the
contribution limit for
Ramos’ 2020 primary and
general election campaigns,
according to the company’s
campaign finance reports.
Ramos did not respond
to requests for comment.
Nine other Assembly
members and two senators
each also received more
than $10,000 in contributions
from DaVita and Fresenius.
The rest of the $1.3 million
in campaign spending was
doled out by the campaign
committee formed and
funded by the industry to de-
feat Proposition 8 last year.
Patients and Caregivers to
Protect Dialysis Patients
committee spent $440,000 in
the first half of 2019, mostly
on an advertising campaign
to sway public opinion
against Wood’s measure.
The media campaign be-
gan by promoting the mes-
sage “Dialysis is life support”via social media accounts
and a slick website, which
emphasized the importance
of dialysis to people with kid-
ney failure. But the messag-
ing has shifted and is now
urging people to contact
their legislators to oppose
the bill. The committee
spent $33,000 on advertising
with Politico and $26,000
with the Sacramento Bee,
among others, according to
campaign finance reports.
The coalition and the pa-
tients in the ads argue that
the measure will threaten
the healthcare and possibly
survival of the California pa-
tients assisted by the Ameri-
can Kidney Fund, which has
said it would cease opera-
tions in the state if the bill is
adopted.Harriet Blair Rowan writes
for California Healthline,
published by Kaiser Health
News, an editorially
independent publication of
the Kaiser Family
Foundation.ADRIAN PEREZ at a DaVita clinic. New ads say the dialysis bill would threaten the health of patients.
Rich PedroncelliAssociated PressDialysis firms aim to kill bill
[Dialysis,from B1]
Now, a month after Gor-
don was hired to lead the
massive bureaucracy
plagued with serious prob-
lems, he hopes to improve
the experience of DMV cus-
tomers like those he met,
who felt they had to rear-
range their lives just to get a
driver’s license.
“You look at that and say,
‘On the face of it, that’s not a
good thing,’ ” Gordon said.
“We need to get it so we can
give them a deterministic
route to get in and get out.”
In appointing Gordon
last month, Gov. Gavin New-
som offered a sobering view
of the challenge, warning,
“People are outraged by
their experience at DMV.”
The agency, which has
also been under fire for mis-
handling the state’s new
“motor voter” program, suf-
fers from what the governor
described as “byzantine”
computer technology, a dec-
ades-old system that has fre-
quently crashed, adding to
customer woes.
“I actually wrote a book
with a preamble that said
that DMV is on the leading,
cutting edge of 1973,” New-
som said of his 2013 book on
reinventing government,
“Citizenville.”
The governor is putting a
lot of stock in Gordon’s Sili-
con Valley experience, which
includes more than three
decades in the tech industry
working for firms including
Cisco. He was a founder of
the travel firm My-
SeatFinder, and more re-
cently was a managing part-
ner at ZTransforms, a tech-
nology and consulting com-
pany.
The appointment of a
tech industry executive to
lead the DMV was praised by
John Thomas Flynn, the
state’s chief information offi-
cer under former Gov. Pete
Wilson.
“I think it’s an astute
move on the part of the gov-
ernor to bring him in,” Flynn
said.
But Gordon will face
challenges as an outsider, in-
cluding dealing with an en-
trenched bureaucracy and a
culture that has struggled
with absenteeism and low
productivity, Flynn said.
Others also see the chal-
lenges as daunting.
“I wish him well, but I
would not like to trade
places with him because he
has not been given the
marching orders, the free-
dom and the resources to
use his experience,” said As-
semblyman Jim Patterson
(R-Fresno), a frequent critic
of the DMV.
Gordon, 59, was born in
Modesto and grew up in the
Central Valley. After earning
a bachelor’s degree in busi-
ness from Cal State Stani-
slaus, he moved to San Di-
ego County to work for the
county auditor, and later
transitioned to the tech in-
dustry.
He leaves the private sec-
tor to take over a state
agency with 9,711 employees,
172 field offices and a $1.3-bil-
lion budget. The agency is
responsible for licensing 27
million drivers and regis-
tering 35.7 million motor ve-
hicles, including motor-
cycles.
He was one of five DMV
managers appointed last
month by Newsom as part of
a shakeup of the agency. The
governor said he was im-
pressed by Gordon’s willing-
ness to take on a tough pub-
lic-sector job.
“He had a conversation
with his wife and ... he goes,
‘You know what? I can’t be
that guy screaming and
yelling about government
without doing something
about it,’ ” Newsom said. “I
love that.”
Gordon, whose annual
salary as DMV director is
$186,389, said his wife sup-
ported him taking the new
post, which requires the
family to move from San Jo-
se to the Sacramento area.
“I was inspired to take
this job because I think it’s
the largest and most impor-
tant turnaround opportuni-
ty in the state, and maybe in
the nation from the constit-
uent perspective,” he said.
Both Gordon and New-
som acknowledge that the
reform and modernization
of the DMV is going to be a
years-long process.
“It has an incredible po-
tential to serve the citizens
of California,” Gordon told
reporters when introduced
by the governor, but added,
“As many of you know the de-
partment has not lived up to
that potential recently and
the public confidence haswavered.”
Gordon said his immedi-
ate goal is to stabilize an
agency struggling to accom-
modate a flood of customers
seeking a Real ID, a new
driver’s license and identifi-
cation card required for air-
line passengers starting in
late 2020. As many as 28 mil-
lion Californians may apply
for the new ID in the next
year, Gordon said.
In March, state auditors
found “significant
deficiencies” in DMV opera-
tions, noting that long lines
of customers at dozens of
field offices last year were
caused largely by technology
and staffing problems and
poor management prac-
tices.
To reduce wait times, the
Legislature increased the
DMV budget last year, allow-
ing it to extend field office
hours, opening many offices
on Saturdays, setting up
more self-service terminals
and hiring hundreds of addi-
tional workers. The addi-
tional resources have helped
reduce lines, but wait times
still averaged 88 minutes for
customers without appoint-
ments at the 20 offices with
the worst waits in June, ac-
cording to the most recent
report.
This year’s budget in-
cludes another $242 million
to help Gordon revamp the
agency and prepare for the
onslaught of Real ID appli-
cations.
Additional problems
cropped up last year when
the DMV admitted to tens of
thousands of errors in the
rollout of its new voter regis-
tration system — people
were unknowingly regis-
tered to vote or mistakes
were made in their regis-
tration status. The program
produced 84,000 duplicate
records and more than twice
that number with political
party mistakes, according to
an audit this month. The re-
port said 171,145 DMV re-
cords contained entries indi-
cating a person’s political
party, but that no such “as-
sociated designation” ap-
peared in data was received
by state elections officials.
Former Gov. Jerry Brown
ordered an audit before leav-
ing office and then-DMV Di-
rector Jean Shiomoto re-
tired in December, as prob-
lems mounted. In January,
Newsom appointed a “strike
team” of experts to deter-
mine how to fix the broken
agency. Gordon said he has
already begun implement-
ing the group’s recom-
mendations.
His goals include better
promoting use of online
services, as well as the avail-
ability of 266 kiosks set up in
communities.
One idea being explored
is to allow Real ID customers
to upload required docu-
ments ahead of their ap-
pointment and have them
pre-screened to reduce their
time at the counter. The
agency is also identifying
those who might not need to
get a Real ID before October
2020 because they have
passports and military IDs
that work as an alternative.
Gordon would like the
DMV to modernize its tech-
nology and use cloud-based
systems to be “much more
nimble and accessible to the
citizens, more mobile en-
abled and much more agile
to operate in.”
His other challenge is re-
storing confidence in the
motor voter program. A
stinging state audit last
month identified glitches in
and miscommunication
over the system, particularly
in the April 2018 launch of the
program.
“The team probably
didn’t coordinate as well as
they should have,” Gordon
acknowledged.
But he said improve-
ments have been made and
he disagrees with those who
have called for a suspension
of the program until more
safeguards are imple-
mented.
“I don’t see the need to do
that,” Gordon said.
Gordon said he envisions
the DMV greatly improving
its customer service, which
could potentially include the
ability to renew licenses and
registration from home us-
ing video-conferencing tech-
nology to interact with DMV
employees.
“Why couldn’t we have a
remote technician dealing
with a customer where they
are?” he asked. “Arguably
you could say maybe they
could be at home, like you do
with tele-medicine. There is
a model out there that we
should be looking at.”Newsom banking
on tech know-how
of DMV director
[Gordon,from B1]