Al Alquist

In the almost 40 years that I have worked around the political process there are perhaps twenty politicians who stand out. Some like Nixon, Senator Prouty and Congressman Esch and Robert Beverly stand out because I worked for them. Others, stand out because of how horribly mediocre or mendacious or petty they were - although most of those are downgraded to a funny story. Some, John Vasconcellos and Jess Unruh, stand out because of the quality of their minds. Vasco and Jess are/were unique characters rarely corrupted by the give and take of politics.

But then there was Al Alquist, who died today at the age of 97. I first became acquainted with Al late in his career. (That was about 15 or 20 years before he retired.) He ran for lieutenant governor in 1970 on a ticket headed by Jess Unruh - but that campaign was out of character. But by when I first came to know him he was an important figure in the state Senate.

Al started his career on the railroads and if you asked him about it he would regail you with why unions are important. He believed deeply in the best sense of policy - on education and a whole range of other things including energy (more on that later). He was at the center of about fifteen years of budget activity. I have forgotten when he became chair of the Senate Appropriations committee but he held the job through a bunch of interesting budget cycles. He was stern at times - but always fair - he believed in the dignity of the process.

In a business and a building where egos are monumental, Al did not seem to get caught in the trend. Bill Bagley, who was his seat mate when they both served in the Assembly said as much about him. He did abhored people who did not come prepared (in part bnecause of his respect for the process) and he could look stern - but it wasn't about him but about the process and making sure good policy got done.

In one of the last years he was in the Senate he vigorously opposed a bill by then Speaker Willie Brown who proposed to change the Cal Grant program - which aids students to attend colleges from a program based on need AND merit to one based almost exclusively on need. Al caught the fraud of that -as did Vasco. But in a key hearing Al went at it with the Speaker. Al would have been a gifted prosecutor - he knew how to elicit a response. Willie, for all of his alleged brilliance, let Al get under his skin. In the end Willie made an outrageous and fundamentally rascist statement about his intentions in the bill. In that committee the Speaker's juice prevailed but as I was walking out of the hearing room (a bit dejected because we lost the bill by one vote) Al came up to me and said "You should get the tape" - Here was a guy who was in his mid-80s telling someone almost 40 years his junior (who is also dedicated to technology) to remember to use the benefits of technology. The bill was vetoed in the Governor's office because we got the Gov to watch the tape of the hearing.

At one point he got into a fight with Steve Peace (the self proclaimed brightest guy in the legislature). They were arguing on a proposal to set up a waste dump in a remote part of California for low intensity nuclear waste - the dump had been mandated by the feds and Alquist believed that the after an expert review of the safest place to locate the thing - California should follow the law. Alquist and Peace almost came to blows. When he returned to his office Al wrote the younger member a letter which stated in remarkable clarity “You obviously have some very severe problems. I suggest you seek immediate psychiatric assistance.” Peace should have taken that advice.

One other mark of the man was the parking meter thing. At one point his wife (now Senator Alquist) and I and Al and my VP were having lunch mulling whether Elaine should run for office. He showed up a bit late and she chided him a bit - he had a habit of refilling parking meters for people who had overstayed their time a bit. It was his sense of the social compact. That was a small thing - but his commitment to good policy was a larger demonstration of the same principle.

In his post-retirement years Al became a bit deaf. He was dedicated to his wife - who is about my age - and she was dedicated to him. They had a genuine affection for each other. For a while he had an "office" in his wife's (who succeeded him sort of) office. But then he drifted away.

Al was the creator of the California Energy Commission - which was one of those ideas in the 1970s that sounded really good - to think about the long range policies of energy for the state. The CEC survived some very tough years because he was its champion. I'll bet there were a lot of things where he and I would have been on opposite sides. But what was unique about him and his type of the era - was that really did not matter. Ethics did matter. So did the long term interests of the state. Al was not a blow-dry kind of guy but he cared about the quality of his work. The state and the nation could benefit from a few more public servants like him.