A coalition of construction contractors is suing Gov. Bill Richardson, the state Labor and Industrial Commission and Commissioner Carol Oppenheimer of Santa Fe, claiming Oppenheimer is pro-labor when she should be neutral.

Oppenheimer is a retired labor lawyer who was active in the local "living wage" campaign that has brought Santa Fe's minimum wage to the highest in the nation — $9.85 an hour.

This summer, Gov. Bill Richardson appointed her to the Labor and Industrial Commission, a three-person panel that hears appeals of decisions from the director of the Labor Relations Division of the Department of Workforce Solutions.

State law requires the three-person commission to consist of one member representing employers, one representing employees and a neutral member chosen by the other two.

Oppenheimer was appointed last summer as the commission's neutral member, although "she is known to represent employees," says the complaint filed in state District Court last week by Wayne Bingham, an Albuquerque lawyer known for representing nonunion contractors.

His clients in this case are the New Mexico chapter of the Associated Builders and Contractors, Northern New Mexico Independent Electrical Contractors, New Mexico Roofing Contractors Association and 13 other associations and construction contractors, including Shumate Constructors Inc., Kaufman Fire Protection Systems Inc. and Reid & Associates Inc.

Bingham, who did not return a message seeking comment on the lawsuit, asks the court to block Oppenheimer from hearing an appeal brought by the plaintiffs regarding newly proposed regulations, related to a law enacted last year, that allow collective-bargaining contracts to be used to determine prevailing-wage rates in public-works projects.

Oppenheimer said Wednesday that she was appointed by the governor as the neutral member of the commission with the agreement of the other two commissioners — employee representative Chris Frentzel, business manager for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local No. 611 in Albuquerque, and employer representative James Wall, vice president of land sales for AMREP Southwest Inc., the firm that largely developed Rio Rancho.

Frentzel, Wall and Richardson's spokesmen were not available for comment Wednesday.

Oppenheimer said her appointment will have to be confirmed by the Senate Rules Committee and the full state Senate during the upcoming Legislature. She said she went to one meeting of the commission last month where the commissioners agreed to hold off on reviewing the new prevailing-wage regulations until early February.

"I don't represent employees," she said. "I haven't practiced law since '98, maybe '99, and I actually teach (union organizing and contract negotiation) for the National Labor College, so I teach for a nonprofit institution," she said.

Oppenheimer was chief of the state Occupational Health and Safety Bureau under former Gov. Toney Anaya, 1983-86. Her husband, Morton Simon, also a retired labor lawyer, chairs Mayor David Coss' re-election campaign committee.

Contact Tom Sharpe at 986-3080 or tsharpe@sfnewmexican.com.