August Alan Post (September 17, 1914 – March 26, 2011) worked for 28 years (1949–1977) as California's legislative analyst.

Early life and education

Post was born on September 17, 1914, in Alhambra in Los Angeles County, California, the second of four children of developer Edwin Post and teacher Edna. The family initially grew up in South

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. ...

and moved to Lancaster during the Great Depression. Post received his undergraduate education at Occidental College in

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...

and art, earning his degrees in 1938. He also learned painting from the Chouinard Institute of the Arts in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. He started work on his Ph.D. in economics at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

but left before completing, to go teach economics at Occidental College. While at Princeton, he also married Helen Wills, a painter and sculptor, and sold his first painting.

Career

Till 1949

Post served in the U.S. Navy in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, from 1943 to 1944. Post briefly worked for the State Department and in Utah, and in 1946 arrived in

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

to work as the chief economic and administrative analyst for the legislature's joint budget committee.

California's Legislative Analyst (1949–1977)

In 1949, after the then legislative auditor Rolland Vandegrift died, he became acting legislative auditor, heading

California Legislative Analyst's Office The Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO), located in Sacramento, California, is a nonpartisan government agency that has provided fiscal and policy advice to the California Legislature since 1941. The office is known for analyzing the state budget ...

. The role name was later changed to "legislative analyst". Post's work as legislative analyst largely involved providing recommendations about the state budget, and he was supposed to perform his role in an independent, nonpartisan, fact-driven manner. Post's work was praised by a number of politicians whose tenure overlapped with his, including

Jerry Brown Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected Secretary of ...

(California Governor) and Willie Brown (

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

Mayor) although he also had conflicts with some politicians, including California Governor Ronald Reagan. Although primarily focused on the budget, Post also dealt with a number of other issues. For instance, in 1972, after controversy arose over the safety of the Bay Area Rapid Transit, he commenced an investigation, hiring

Bill Wattenburg Willard Harvey Wattenburg (February 9, 1936 – August 2, 2018) was an American inventor, engineer, author, and Talk radio, talk radio show host from California. Advertisements for his show often referred to him as "The Smartest Man in the Wo ...

as a consultant (see history of Bay Area Rapid Transit#Train-control failures for more information). In 1977, Post retired from his job, and was succeeded by William G. Hamm.

Later life

After retirement from the Legislative Analyst's Office, Post continued to serve in various capacities on state commissions. In 1992, he wrote a report critical of executive compensation in the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Franci ...

system. Post was one of the founding directors of the

Public Policy Institute of California The Public Policy Institute of California is an independent, non-profit research institution. Based in San Francisco, California, the institute was established in 1994 by Bill Hewlett, of Hewlett-Packard, Roger Heyns, and Arjay Miller, with a $7 ...

, that was founded in 1994.

Awards and recognition

In 2000, the California Journal named Post one of California's 30 most influential public figures of the 20th century, along with Ronald Reagan,

Hiram Johnson Hiram Warren Johnson (September 2, 1866August 6, 1945) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 23rd governor of California from 1911 to 1917. Johnson achieved national prominence in the early 20th century. He was elected in 191 ...

Pat Brown Edmund Gerald "Pat" Brown (April 21, 1905 – February 16, 1996) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 32nd governor of California from 1959 to 1967. His first elected office was as district attorney for San Francisco, and he w ...

, and others. In 2007, Post received the League of California Cities Past Presidents’ Lifetime Achievement Award during the closing session of the league's annual conference in Sacramento.

Death

Post died in Sacramento, California, on March 26, 2011, at age 96. He was pre-deceased by his wife Helen, who had died in 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Post, A. Alan People from California 1914 births 2011 deaths