There may have been more intrigue behind Scott Seroka's exit from KARE 11 than he let on Friday night.
Seroka just started a new job as a Minneapolis Police Department spokesman. I heard that KARE news director Jane Helmke made his departure challenging.
"I wouldn't say that," Seroka said. "We just had some discussions as to when would work for me and what would work for them and we came to a nice resolution that we all agreed with."
Was he forced to work a final day when he could have taken a vacation day?
"I don't know if that is accurate, to be honest with you," said Seroka. "That was something that came up in our discussions. It's a pretty convoluted thing and I guess I'm not willing to say how that all went down or what days I could take and couldn't take. All of that's contractual or it's the way the scheduling gets set up through the corporation. It was very confusing. I guess I'm not quite sure of the semantics of it, I suppose. My departure was pretty good."
Helmke did not return my call. I do not relish writing anything unflattering about Jane because we forged a bond long ago when she was the producer on "A Pat Miles Special" that featured me. We traveled to Michigan, where she interviewed my dearest friends, and I believe she was with us in Alabama, where my mother was interviewed for this Barbara Walters-like show. So I am not enjoying all of what I've been hearing about her handling of Seroka. He's considered a nice, hardworking guy. With reports of other people itching to bail, KARE 11 is starting to sound like a much less friendly place than KSTP-TV, which is no longer the den of dysfunction it once was.
Seroka's deflecting verbiage makes me think that some of the reports are accurate, especially the part about his thinking he could leave early because he had worked a holiday shift.
Jan. 17 on Twitter, Seroka posted a photo of himself doing his "Last live shot. Going to miss my colleagues at KARE 11. What a great 7 years. Thank you all."