NEW YORK – Hacked emails recently posted by WikiLeaks show the American Federation of Teachers officials sounded alarms about rumors of former New York City education chancellor Joel Klein joining up with the Clinton campaign.

Klein, known for fingering the teachers union as the main impediment to improving education in the Big Apple, warred with the AFT’s United Federation of Teachers over seniority, special pay perks, the release of teacher performance data, teacher raises and numerous other issues. AFT president Rhonda (Randi) Weingarten served as UFT president during Klein’s tenure, and they’re not exactly friends.

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Klein was also a deputy at News Corp, which owns Fox News, until last November.

“Hi – I wanted to flag a panicked call I just received from AFT about Joel Klein, former Chancellor of New York City Dept of Education,” Hillary for America Labor Outreach Coordinator Nikki Budzinski wrote to Clinton campaign manager Robbie Mook last August, according to WikiLeaks.

“Is he joining the campaign in any capacity? Reporters have been contacting AFT for reaction. AFT has flagged this as a really big issue for them,” Budzinski continued. “I would expect that Randi is going to reach out to (Clinton campaign chairman) John (Podesta) on this today.

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“Anything additional you can share with me would be appreciated. Thanks.”

The WikiLeaks email is among thousands published from Podesta’s Gmail account to the transparency website in a series of promised document dumps aimed at embarrassing the Clinton campaign and its allies.

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Mook wrote back the same day.

“Tina just called me abt this. Just huddled with Maya and Ed and we are 99% sure this isn’t true but Maya is checking,” he wrote.

Podesta seemed clueless about what was going on.

“What is this about?” he wrote to Mook. “Adding Dennis.”

Weingarten admitted to Education Week that the AFT was gravely concerned that the renowned education reformer, well-known for expanding charter schools in NYC and greatly increasing competition with unionized traditional public schools, might influence Clinton’s education policies.

“That’s the kind of rumor we just wanted to track down,” Weingarten said. “Joel may have been incredibly good in Bill Clinton’s Justice Department but he has a toxic reputation when it comes to education.”

Weingarten told EdWeek she was relieved to learn Klein did not join the campaign.