Slots linchpin: Will Cohen stay or will he go?

A new wrinkle has inched into the county's interminable slots debate as slots opponent and Annapolis Mayor-elect Josh Cohen contemplates when to leave the County Council behind.

Resign in the next week, and his fellow County Council members could theoretically appoint a slots supporter to get the elusive fourth vote to pass zoning for the casino. Wait until December, and Cohen's resignation will not affect the faltering proposal to approve a casino at the Arundel Mills mall.

Most observers doubt the former scenario will arise, and Cohen himself said before Tuesday's general election that he intended to stay on at his post until the day before he is sworn in - Dec. 7, the same day the slots vote is scheduled.

But the unwieldy nine months the council has failed to take any action on the zoning bill bolsters the argument that the Anne Arundel County Council can be unpredictable.

"I'll tell you one thing I've learned to do: I never second-guess my council," Chairwoman Cathy Vitale said Wednesday.

Based on an earlier e-mail from Cohen indicating he would resign in early December, Vitale has tentatively scheduled the public interviews for his potential replacements for Dec. 14.

Asked if she thought Cohen's election as Annapolis mayor would have any impact on the slots debate, Vitale said flatly, "No."

Councilman Jamie Benoit, one of Cohen's usual allies on the council, said he doubts Cohen's resignation would leave enough time to put a slots supporter in his place.

"I don't think it could happen, and I don't think it will," Benoit said.

Cohen, a Democrat, said Thursday he had not settled on a day to resign.

"I will resign before I am sworn in as mayor, that much is certain," Cohen joked.

But Councilman Ed Middlebrooks, who is in line to take over the council's leadership on Dec. 7, cautions that Cohen's resignation could still play a critical role in whether the casino and its hundreds of millions in tax dollars arrive in Anne Arundel.

"It certainly could have a crucial impact, because we don't know if the new person coming in would be a slots supporter or a slots opponent," said Middlebrooks, R-Severn. According to rules laid out in county law, Cohen would have to resign within the next few days in order to force the council to select a replacement before the slots vote on Dec. 7. But Middlebrooks points out that the state-imposed deadline of Dec. 17 to pass a zoning bill "wasn't a deadline set in stone" and that a council member appointed in mid-December could be a swing vote if the council puts off the slots decision.

The council is considering two competing zoning proposals: One broad proposal includes the Arundel Mills site, while the other restricts casinos to other parcels, including Laurel Park Racetrack. Neither plan has support from four councilmen, and Cohen had vowed to cast votes against both.

The developer of the Arundel Mills casino plan, Baltimore-based Cordish Cos., is awaiting final approval from the state's licensing commission to operate 4,750 slot machines at one of Maryland's newly legalized slots parlors. Members of the licensing commission have said they want to complete all their work by the end of the year.

Benoit, a Crownsville Democrat, is also a slots opponent, but he co-sponsored the bill that would allow the casino at the mall in order to force a vote on the issue. He said any efforts to delay the slots vote past Dec. 7 will be stopped by opposition from the bill's sponsors. And without a delay, it is unlikely a new councilman will be on the dais to help the plan pass.

"I intend to push forward with a vote on the legislation whether or not Josh's seat is filled," Benoit said.

More twists

In another strange wrinkle, the mastermind of the proposed "aerotropolis" complex in Linthicum told politicians he would sell some of his property to build the casino near there if the council declined to approve slots at Arundel Mills.

But by the time Mitch Weber floated his proposal for a casino near BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport, the plan had already been sunk by the only company in the position to build it.

"Representatives of the company contacted us recently and we told them we had NO interest in their site or anyone else's site for a gaming facility," Joe Weinberg, a principal of Cordish, wrote in an e-mail to The Capital last week. "We have been absolutely clear that Arundel Mills is the only location that is before the State and County and in which we have any interest."

Yet Weber still solicited support from county politicians, who are reluctant to approve any site for a casino, and presented his idea to the media as a way to break the political deadlock.

"We floated our site, really to say to Cordish, 'If you want (Arundel) Mills but the county says you can't have it, what are you guys going to do?' " Weber said in an interview.

The 200 acres of Weber's aerotropolis development had promised hotels, an office park, homes and a water park, but progress has been slow. When he saw county politicians hesitant to approve a casino near Arundel Mills, he gave what he called a "courtesy call" to representatives of The Cordish Cos., notifying them he would offer his property to politicians as an alternative site to build Cordish's casino.

One councilman dismissed the proposal immediately, calling it "ridiculous" and saying that it was clearly a case of "this guy trying to sell his land."

Cordish representatives, who put up more than $28 million for the chance to get a license, said their proposal can't be changed and they have no desire to do so.

"There is only ONE application before the State for ONE site - Arundel Mills," Weinberg wrote. "There is no other option before the County. Talk is cheap. Where were all the developer/land owners when they had a chance to put up $28.5 million and compete in the ... process?"