Longtime Vt. political writer Freyne dies, 59
Toolbox
By Daniel Barlow Vermont Press Bureau - Published: January 8, 2009
MONTPELIER – Peter Freyne, a longtime Vermont journalist and political columnist known for skewering politicians, died early Wednesday morning after a brief battle with illness.
Freyne, 59, died shortly after midnight Wednesday at a Burlington hospital after a contracting an illness that spread to his brain, according to the weekly newspaper Seven Days, for whom Freyne wrote his famous "Inside Track" column and "Freyne Land" blog.
His death comes less than a year after Freyne retired from full-time political writing, a decision he came to after successfully beating cancer in late 2007. It also occurred on the first day of the new session of the Vermont Legislature – the first in many years that he would not be covering as a reporter.
Seven Days co-editor Pamela Polston said Freyne's relentless-style of reporting and his ability to use sarcasm and humor in his columns made him a must-read columnist in Vermont, she said. He brought a "60s fervor" to political writing that is often not reflected in modern journalism, she added.
"He was in an utterly unique situation in the sphere of journalism," she said. "There's not going to be anyone else like him."
Polston, who was at Freyne's bedside when he passed away Wednesday morning, said the paper planned a cover-story tribute to him this week – but he died shortly after their Tuesday evening deadline.
"The doctors actually thought it would happen Monday and we were prepared to put him on the cover," she said. "But we didn't want a Dewey defeats Truman headline."
Freyne grew up in Chicago, but came in 1979 to the state he would later call home. A former cab driver in that city, his first news story in Vermont centered on a dispute between the local airport and Burlington cab drivers.
Over the next two decades, Freyne would pound out a weekly column for various alternative newspapers, including the defunct Vermont Vanguard Press. His "Inside Track" column eventually landed at Seven Days in 1995.
Most of Freyne's life in Vermont was spent in journalism, but he briefly moved to the other side of the curtain when he became then-Gov. Madeleine Kunin's press secretary in the early 1990s – a career move that ended in scandal after he made an offensive comment to a reporter.
Freyne began battling cancer two years ago – and he made the rare move of blogging excessively about his treatment and how he felt. He defeated the disease later that year and soon after decided to quit writing about politics.
He told the Vermont Press Bureau in March 2008 that the work "wasn't fun anymore."
"I'm proud I'm a successful political columnist, but I began asking myself what I was losing because of that," Freyne said at the time. "We all want success in our fields, but sometimes we have to stop and ask what we've given up as a result."
Polston said the outpouring of support Freyne received during his cancer battle changed his perspective on life. He spent the last year taking it easy, she said, and could often be seen reading a book or a newspaper at Speeder & Earl's coffee shop in Burlington.
"He was taking life a day at a time," she said. "He was a workaholic who never took vacations, until now."
Freyne was known for asking uncomfortable questions to people in powerful positions and for his chatty, conversational style of writing. Freyne's nicknames he bestowed on politicians and public figures – Governor Scissorhands for Gov. James Douglas, for example – became legendary.
Despite his habit of making enemies via his column, Freyne's passing was noted by people of all political stripes Wednesday.
In a statement released Wednesday, Douglas called Freyne "a determined journalist who had a way about him that was uniquely his." U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said "Vermont has lost its own version of the legendary Mike Royko," a Pulitzer-prize winning Chicago columnist whom Freyne greatly admired.
"Though Peter was born in the age of manual typewriters, in recent years he took to blogs like a 20-year-old," Leahy said in a prepared statement.
U.S. Sen. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt. recalled Freyne showing up at a press conference in Burlington in the early 1980s – and feasting on the platter of free sandwiches. In his next column, he blasted Sanders, who was mayor of the city at the time, for serving sandwiches.
Sanders said Freyne was right on that one – and many others over the years.
"He was also right about bigger issues, including the war in Iraq, which he felt very strongly about," Sanders said in a statement. "At almost every press conference that he attended, he in one way or another made clear his disgust with the war."
Vermont Secretary of State Deb Markowitz called for a moment of silence in the House chamber as the new legislative session was called. When she announced that Freyne had died early that morning, there was a strong murmur of sadness in the crowd – many of the House members were finding out for the first time.
"He was not a member of this body, but he certainly was a member of our political community," Markowitz said.
Vermont's media mourned the loss as well Wednesday. Christopher Graff, the former bureau chief of the Associated Press in Vermont, called him "the most courageous Vermont journalist I have ever known."
"He was the reality check – whose happiest moments were playing devil's advocate," Graff said. "He would often support those under attack and criticize those in favor – merely to make sure the scales were balanced."
John Odum of the liberal Green Mountain Daily blog said many people consider him to be the "godfather" of the Vermont blogosphere. The transition from writing a weekly political column to daily blogging was seamless for Freyne, he wrote in an e-mail, and that helped bring credibility and attention in the state to the new medium.
"He was probably the only person in Vermont who could step from the traditional media into new media (or vice versa) and instantly transfer his credibility and impact from one to the other," Odum wrote.
Despite beating cancer, Freyne's health deteriorated last fall after he contracted an infection that traveled to his brain. He spent the last few months in the hospital and a nursing home.
Polston, who became Freyne's legal guardian toward last year, said memorial service will be scheduled soon, although it would probably occur after President-elect Barack Obama is sworn in on Jan. 20.
Contact Daniel Barlow at Daniel.Barlow@timesargus.com.
11