BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) - Longtime Vermont political columnist Peter Freyne, known to skewer politicians of both parties and then have a drink with them, died Wednesday. He was 59.

Freyne, a cancer survivor, was stricken in September with a brain infection from which he never fully recovered. On Sunday, he was hospitalized at Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington. He died of pneumonia, according to Pamela Polston, co-publisher of Seven Days, which carried his “Inside Track” column for years before his retirement last spring.

Fletcher Allen Health Care spokesman Mike Noble confirmed his death.
U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy said Freyne was Vermont’s version of legendary Chicago newspaper columnist Mike Royko, who made a career out of sticking up for the little guy.

“Flatlander reporters sought him out first when they wanted to understand our state,” said Leahy, D-Vt. “He brought insight to some of the biggest stories of our time here in Vermont. He knew the difference between healthy skepticism and hollow cynicism, and his reporting helped make Vermont better.”

Born in 1949 to an Irish Republican Army member, Freyne studied to be a foreign missionary and was a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War.

He moved to Vermont in 1979 and got a job as a radio news reporter for WDEV and later as a columnist for the Vanguard Press, where he started “Inside Track.”

For 13 years, his columns were must reading for anyone seeking to understand Vermont politics.

Frequently, he coined nicknames for politicians, members of the media and others. Leahy was “St. Patrick,” former Gov. Howard Dean was “Ho Ho” and Gov. Jim Douglas was “Governor Scissorhands,” a jab at Douglas’ diligent attendance at ribbon-cutting events around Vermont.

“Peter was a determined journalist who had a way about him that was uniquely his,” Douglas said Wednesday. “You knew where you stood with him, a trait that made all public officials examine their positions more closely.”

In 1990, he was hired as press secretary to then-Gov. Madeleine Kunin but lasted only four months, resigning in controversy after making an off-color remark to a reporter.

In 2007, he survived non-Hodgkins’ lymphoma. He chronicled his treatment in his column, telling readers about the emotional roller coaster of cancer as he experienced it.

Last fall, he contracted an infection that left him brain-impaired. Since September, he had shuttled between the hospital and a nursing center.

Polston, who became his legal guardian during his recent illness, said dealing with a life-threatening condition changed him. “I think what we saw after he had the cancer (was) he was starting to seek, search, question,” she said.

“He was so touched by the incredible support he got in that period. I think it really changed him,” Polston said. The irascible, sometimes offensive persona “didn’t jive with the new Peter Freyne.”

During his final hours, a group of friends stood vigil at his bedside, according to Polston, who was with him when he died.

“It was a release to watch him let go,” she said. “After the party died down, he decided too as well.”

He is survived by a sister.

For more on this story, see Thursday's Times Argus and Rutland Herald.