Taxpayers won't be picking up the legal tab for two men involved in the latest lawsuit related to alleged pay-to-play schemes in the former Gov. Bill Richardson administration.

That's the decision of Gov. Susana Martinez's administration. In a letter this week, administration officials informed former state investment officer Gary Bland, one of the defendants, that he's on his own for legal expenses. Bland had asked if the state's Risk Management Division would pay his legal tab, the officials said.

Former state Game Commissioner Guy Riordan has yet to ask, Martinez spokesman Scott Darnell said, but if he does, the answer will be no. Riordan, a former securities broker, also is named in the suit.

The state won't pay the lawyers' bills in the case because state law dealing with tort claims "was not intended to provide defense for state employees when the state itself pursues legal action against them," Darnell said.

"The state believes that Mr. Bland and Mr. Riordan owe New Mexico taxpayers a significant amount of money as a result of their involvement in pay-to-play schemes with state investment dollars."

The case at issue was filed by the State Investment Council in state and federal court earlier this month and alleges Bland was pressured by Richardson "supporters and senior members of his staff" to secure political contributions from investment management firms that had received fees in connection with investments of state funds.

The lawsuits also say another man, Anthony Correra, acted as "self-appointed consultant and gatekeeper," and often purported to speak on behalf of the governor. As such, Correra instructed Bland and, by extension, the State Investment Council, to make "investments that would benefit politically connected individuals," according to the suits.

Riordan is cited as one of those politically connected individuals in the lawsuit filed in state court. He was banned by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission after being implicated in the scandal involving former State Treasurer Michael Montoya.

The state already is picking up the tab for Riordan and Bland's expenses in another lawsuit. So far, lawyers' bills for those two men have totaled more than $290,000.

In that case, Frank Foy, a former investment officer for the Educational Retirement Board, alleges taxpayers were defrauded of millions dollars by a host of financial companies and state officials.

Bland's expenses are covered because he was employed as the investment officer. Riordan's defense also is covered, although he was never a state employee.

The Martinez administration has pointed to state law that covers "persons acting on behalf or in service of a governmental entity in any official capacity, whether with or without compensation" for that decision.

Riordan briefly served on an Educational Retirement Board task force, director Jan Goodwin said in an email Wednesday. She recalled that the task force met three or four times in 2005.

In filings for the Foy case, attorney Victor Marshall has said Richardson officials tried to appoint Riordan to an Educational Retirement Board panel in 2005, but that proposal wasn't adopted.

Taxpayer spending on the Foy case tops $836,318, records show.

Contact Kate Nash at 986-3036 or knash@sfnewmexican.com. Read her blog at www.greenchilechatter.com.