CUMBERLAND -- A Virginia developer whose proposal for an Indian-run gambling casino atop a mountain overlooking Cumberland seemed dead only eight weeks ago is resurrecting the idea.
The developer, James L. Silvester, abandoned the project less than two weeks after it became public knowledge in October, blaming political opposition, particularly from Del. Casper R. Taylor Jr., a Democrat who represents both Allegany and Washington counties and is speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates.
But Mr. Silvester said now that he believes the multimillion-dollar casino plan can overcome such political opposition, although he offered no reason for his renewed optimism.
He also said he dropped the project so he could regroup and collect economic and other data.
"The sun doesn't rise and set on politicians," Mr. Silvester said in an interview, referring to Mr. Taylor, who is one of the most formidable members of the General Assembly, which is facing pressure to approve more forms of gambling for the state. "We're going to go back up there and test the waters in February."
Mr. Silvester, who heads BAS/Breckinridge Group, a consulting, investment banking and mortgage company in Winchester, Va., has both publicly and privately blamed Mr. Taylor for thwarting the casino project.
But Mr. Taylor denied that assertion, saying that "I don't have the authority to kill anything."
Mr. Silvester said Wills Mountain, overlooking Cumberland, remains one of the sites under consideration for a casino-hotel, a $75 million to $100 million project. The other is in Warren County, Va.
And, he said, the Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma remains interested in the casino.
The tribe's governor, Larry Nuckolls, did not return repeated phone calls last week.
Affiliation with the Indian group is important to Mr. Silvester's gambling proposal because a 6-year-old federal law allows Indians to operate such businesses on their land, regardless of state regulations. The Shawnee are said to have connections to Western Maryland, and to Wills Mountain specifically, that predate colonization, even though the property is not in Native American hands now.
Although some -- including Mr. Taylor -- have questioned the Shawnee ties to Wills Mountain, Mr. Silvester continues to maintain that the land once belonged to the Shawnee and that he has historical documents showing the Indian links.
Mr. Taylor, who raised concerns about a host of issues in a letter to Mr. Silvester in late October, wrote that the casino was "not advisable or do-able at this time."
The speaker cited concerns about the lack of precedent for an Indian-run gaming facility outside a reservation, the lack of state laws to regulate casino gambling and the limited access to Wills Mountain, the developers' preferred site for a casino-hotel.
Mr. Taylor agreed that Mr. Silvester doesn't need his support to pursue a casino in Maryland, but pointed out that the developer does need the legislature's approval. Under Maryland law, the governor needs legislative approval to enable him to agree to a tribal-state compact, he said.
"If the governor says, 'No, I won't approve,' -- the legislature need not bother. But if he does approve, then we have to pass a bill for him to sign," Mr. Taylor said.
He maintained that such gambling proposals would be better addressed after a governor's commission has concluded its study of the competitive forces facing the state's horse-racing industry, among them proliferation of gambling in Maryland and neighboring states.
"Every major gambling consortium in the U.S. is going to be represented in Annapolis this winter, lobbying this issue," Mr. Taylor said. "I personally think we ought to go very deliberately and approach this issue in a very methodical and deliberate way.
"It could indeed have a major effect on the future of Maryland," he said.
But Mr. Silvester said that Allegany County residents should decide whether a casino would be good for their community and that he plans to contract with a telemarketing company to poll residents. He said the project could generate thousands of jobs.
Cumberland church leaders, though, have organized a group -- which calls itself NOCasiNO -- and remain opposed to the project. They plan to rally opposition statewide.
"We never went away," said the Rev. Edward Chapman, a spokesman for the group. "While [Mr.] Silvester may come and go, the issue of gambling is certainly going to be before the legislature. There's no way to prevent it locally. We have to go to Annapolis."
The Allegany County Chamber has not taken a stand on the proposed project. Instead, the business group is doing research to determine the impact on the local economy and the quality of life.