A. Alan Post

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

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 and moved to Lancaster during the Great Depression.

Post received his undergraduate education at Occidental College in economics and art, earning his degrees in 1938. He also learned painting from the Chouinard Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles, California. He started work on his Ph.D. in economics at Princeton University 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.

Post served in the U.S. Navy in World War II, from 1943 to 1944.

Post briefly worked for the State Department and in Utah, and in 1946 arrived in Sacramento, California to work as the chief economic and administrative analyst for the Legislature's joint budget committee.

In 1949, after the then legislative auditor Rolland Vandegrift died, he became acting legislative auditor, heading California Legislative Analyst's Office. 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 (California Governor) and Willie Brown (San Francisco Mayor) although he also had conflicts with some politicians, including California Governor Ronald Reagan.

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