The 94,000 emails released between former first lady Cylvia Hayes and former Gov. John Kitzhaber’s staff confirm what many news articles had suggested.

Hayes mingled her private consulting work and the work of the governor’s office. The lines weren’t blurred. They were thoroughly trampled.

Kitzhaber’s insistence that the two roles were kept separate are not backed up by his own emails. He cleared the way for her.

There might be more revelations as reporters continue to dig through the emails, but it reinforces how important it is that her private emails also be made public.

Hayes has demonstrated that the public-private line was one she was willing and eager to cross. It would be no surprise to find that the same is true in her private email.

Her attorney has argued that public records laws should not apply to her. He said that releasing such emails would violate her privacy. And he said that disclosing the emails would violate her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination by way of acknowledging they exist and that they relate to state business.

We would have more respect for those arguments if the 94,000 emails already released gave a different impression. They have added to the growing body of evidence that Hayes embodied neither the letter nor the spirit of ethical government.

Remember, Hayes used her consulting business email for private work, for state business and for projects that were a mix. It’s reasonable to assume that the same might be the case for her personal email.

Her personal emails should be released so that Oregonians can learn if the law was broken.