DeFede Columns

MIAMI (CBS4) ― One day after being offered the job as superintendent of the Miami-Dade school system, Alberto Carvalho was fighting off allegations that he had secretly conspired to undermine his former boss, Rudy Crew, and that he had engaged in an inappropriate intimate relationship with a former Miami Herald reporter.

The allegations stem from emails purportedly sent to and from Carvalho last year, but which surfaced for the first time this week.

Carvalho told CBS4 News the emails were "concocted" to damage his reputation and has ordered the school district's Information Technology department to conduct its own investigation and release to the public all of the emails he either wrote or received during the dates in question.

One of the emails is allegedly from Carvalho to Perla Tabares Hantman in which Carvalho appears to supply the school board member with questions designed to embarrass Crew. The other emails – nearly two dozen in all – are allegedly from Tania deLuzuriaga, who at the time was the Herald reporter covering the school district. Several of those emails suggest a romantic relationship.

"Totally manufactured," Carvalho told CBS4 News. "Absolutely manufactured. I know there has been a smear campaign out there. These are personal attacks, unfortunately common at this time in the political system as well as in the school system. They are smear tactics that I don't even feel are worthy of being dignified with an answer."

Carvalho, who is married, vehemently denied having an affair with deLuzuriaga, 27, who worked for the Miami Herald from October 2006 to September 2007 and is now with the Boston Globe.

Attempts to reach deLuzuriaga late Thursday were unsuccessful. The Miami Herald quoted her as saying, "I can't comment right now."

Some of the emails began circulating to school board members early Wednesday morning, just hours before they voted to buy out Crew's contract and offer the superintendent's job to the 43-year-old Carvalho, who was associate superintendent under Crew.

It is not known who was responsible for anonymously spreading the emails to members of the school board and others in the community.

The alleged email from Carvalho to Hantman is dated September 4, 2007 and appears to supply Hantman with budget questions designed to embarrass Crew. When the email surfaced Wednesday, several school board members were privately troubled by the implication that Carvalho was deliberately trying to sabotage his boss.

School Board member Martin Karp told CBS4 News he immediately called Carvalho Wednesday morning for an explanation. "I was troubled by this," Karp said.

Karp said Carvalho denied writing the email and told him it was a fake. Karp accepted Carvalho explanation. "I believed him when he said he didn't send it," Karp said.

Hantman told CBS4 News that she has "no recollection" of receiving that email.

The emails involving Carvalho and the former Herald reporter – which were allegedly written in the summer of 2007 – began circulating to board members Thursday, after Carvalho was selected the new superintendent.

"I think it is a smear campaign against a person who will be a fabulous superintendent," Hantman said Thursday night.

Carvalho suspects someone may have tried to manipulate some of the emails between him and deLuzuriaga to make their interactions seem different from what they truly were.

"I don't remember all of the exchanges," Carvalho said, but added, "Tania and I had a professional relationship."

In addition to ordering the retrieval and release of all of his emails, Carvalho has also asked the head of the IT department to review security procedures within the school district to keep individuals from hacking into the district's computer system.

Carvalho has yet to formally accept the offer from the Miami Dade school board and is also considering the superintendent's position in Pinellas County.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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