ALBUQUERQUE — In his first public appearance since a scandal involving state investments broke, Santa Fe broker Marc Correra on Tuesday refused to speak to reporters who wanted to know more about the millions he made in third-party placement fees and his relationship with Gov. Bill Richardson.

Correra, a partner in a proposed racetrack and casino in Raton, appeared at a state Gaming Control Board meeting to seek approval for the project, as well as a "finding of suitability" for himself as an officer in the company that would run the gambling enterprise.

The board postponed action on the applications and requested more financial information.

Correra's lawyer, Sam Bregman, who at one point likened reporters at the meeting to vultures, said it wasn't political connections that made it possible for Correra to share in more than $15 million in fees for helping secure business for clients who handled state pension and permanent fund investments.

Correra sat in a silver Range Rover as Bregman talked to reporters in a parking lot after Tuesday's meeting. The tone was often bellicose. "What political connections?" Bregman demanded when one reporter used that term.

Correra, who donated almost $39,000 last year to Democratic candidates elsewhere and the Democratic National Committee, is the son of longtime Richardson adviser and campaign contributor Anthony Correra. The younger Correra's wife once was hired by Richardson as a "protocol officer" for the governor.

Bregman agreed that Marc Correra made a lot of money but said that's not a crime.

"He worked for all the money he received," Bregman told reporters who followed him and his client from the Gaming Board meeting room to Correra's car. "Marc Correra is doing something that people throughout this country do — earning his living," said Bregman, who stressed that Correra's fees were paid by private companies he represented.

Correra has not been charged with wrongdoing. Federal prosecutors in several states are investigating third-party agents who made money from investing public money. Last week Julio Ramirez, whose Wetherly Capital Group was one of Correra's clients, pleaded guilty to securities fraud in a New York pension-fund case.

State Investment Council spokesman Charles Wollman confirmed last week that federal prosecutors have subpoenaed documents from New Mexico's state endowment funds.

Meanwhile, the gaming board delayed acting on the Raton casino license application as well as delayed a finding on whether Correra and another partner are suitable to hold positions in the track and casino.

The board's chairman, David Norvell, said the regulatory body couldn't make "a rational decision" without first obtaining complete financial statements from Canadian developer Michael Moldenhauer, who is president of Racing at Raton, and Correra, who is treasurer.

Norvell also said the board needs to know the location of $1.2 million, which he later told a reporter was money that Correra had put into the project. He said that sum represents about 10 percent of the project's first phase. The total cost of the project, as proposed last year, would be $30 million to $40 million.

Bregman refused to discuss the $1.2 million and said it was "inappropriate" that Norvell disclosed the figure in the public portion of the meeting because the funding was discussed during a nearly two-hour session when the meeting was closed to the public.

"It was supposed to remain confidential," Bregman said.

Told that Bregman considered the disclosure inappropriate, Norvell, a former state attorney general, said, "That's his opinion."

Bregman said his clients would provide the requested financial information before the next board meeting, scheduled for June 16.

In August the state Racing Commission approved the license for the Raton track. The project also needs approval from the Gaming Control Board.

At Tuesday's meeting, Guy Clark, executive director of New Mexico Coalition Against Gambling, told the board that Correra's application should be rejected because he is "enmeshed in controversy and scandal."

Clark noted that while no criminal charges have been filed, "bad publicity and controversy casts a cloud over Marc Correra."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Contact Steve Terrell at 986-3037 or sterrell@sfnewmexican.com. Read his political blog at roundhouseroundup.com.