Cylvia Hayes is asserting her constitutional right against self-incrimination in an attempt to block the release of work-relatedemails she sent from her personal accounts. <\/p>\n
Hayes asserted that right in a lawsuit filed Thursday against The Oregonian\/OregonLive in Marion County Circuit Court. She has been under a state order to turn the emails over to the news organization. <\/p>\n
That order is one of the several legal fronts on which Hayes and her fiance, former Gov. John Kitzhaber, are battling. The couple is the target of a joint investigation by the FBI and the IRS, which have sought records from 11 state agencies and organizations, and a separate state criminal investigation. <\/p>\n
The lawsuit is the only legal remedy open to Hayes to escape complying with Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum's order that she turn over the emails. <\/p>\n
The Oregonian\/OregonLive first requested that Kitzhaber's office provide Hayes' state-related emails as questions arose last October about her consulting work and her roles as first lady and as a volunteer policy adviser to Kitzhaber. His staff repeatedly said it was working on complying with the request, but said in January it had no access to Hayes' records. <\/p>\n
Rosenblum subsequently granted a petition from the news organization that she order Hayes to provide the records. Rosenblum ruled Feb.12 that Hayes was a public official subject to the Oregon Public Records Law. <\/p>\n
As first lady and a volunteer policy adviser, Hayes regularly communicated with state employees and agency leaders through two personal email accounts and one from her Bend-based consulting business, 3E Strategies. In court filings she said she wasn't issued a state email account because she wasn't an employee. <\/p>\n
Hayes and her attorney, Whitney Boise, argued in the lawsuit the same point they had made with Rosenblum - that Hayes is not subject to the state public records law because she is not a public official. <\/p>\n
Rosenblum concluded otherwise, writing that she was persuaded that the former first lady earned public official status from her \"extensive, high-level involvement in the executive branch of Oregon's state government.\" <\/p>\n
The order noted that Hayes had said she asked for a state email but was ineligible without employee status. <\/p>\n
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Facing criminal investigations, Cylvia Hayes asserts Fifth Amendment rights in hopes of keeping emails private<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Cylvia Hayes is asserting her constitutional right against self-incrimination in an attempt to block the release of work-relatedemails she sent from her personal accounts. Hayes asserted that right in a lawsuit filed Thursday against The Oregonian\/OregonLive in Marion County Circuit Court. She has been under a state order to turn the emails over to the news organization Continue reading