OCEAN CITY — The political action committee Our Ocean City has been weighing in on the upcoming mayoral and City Council elections, but aside from its very public positions, there is not much disclosed about the organization.
It has been visible with ads in the Ocean City Sentinel, backing incumbent Sean Barnes and newcomer Jim Kelly for City Council and supporting Second Ward Councilman Keith Hartzell in his bid to defeat four-term incumbent Mayor Jay Gillian.
The PAC has been critical of Gillian, fellow mayoral candidate Pete Madden, the sitting council vice president; and incumbent Councilman Tony Polcini and newcomer Jocelyn Palaganas.
Its website, ouroceancity.org, lists three priorities: advocating for a “smart compromise” for building on the former Wonderland Pier amusement park site on the boardwalk and against property owner Eustace Mita’s plans for an eight-story, 252-room hotel. Its two other issues are “smart budgeting, not running up debt” and “smart development.”
As a political action committee (PAC), the organization does not have to disclose much information. Its chairman is James Tweed, an outspoken member of citizens group Fairness In Taxes (FIT), which has been severely critical of Gillian. The group’s treasurer is Rich Crawford.
Interviewed Monday and asked about the PAC, Crawford did not offer any more specifics about those involved with it or its donors.
As a PAC, it does not have to do so. More than that, he said the group is “very afraid of retribution from the existing administration and its followers.”
Calling the group “a bunch of concerned residents,” Crawford said his name has “already been toxically dragged through the mud with absolutely incorrect information. They couldn’t be more wrong with what they’re saying.”
He said detractors have pointed out on social media not only his Ocean City address, but where he and his wife moved from Bluebell, Pa., “with a red arrow over the real estate.”
“Who do these Crawfords think that they are, trying to tell us what they’re doing and who is this PAC and where’s the money coming from?” he said about the social media attacks. “They know Ocean City doesn’t respond to negative campaigning. Why are they being so divisive?
“We’re just concerned,” Crawford said. “We understand that some of the people in Ocean City have their head in the sand and take the truth as something that’s negative and divisive. We’re not interested in being negative. We’re only interested in everything we state.”
That includes the parking problems and that so many donors to the Madden and Gillian campaigns are from people connected to real estate.
Through its own social media accounts, the group also posts links to documents revolving around Gillian’s personal bankruptcy.
Gillian publicly announced his bankruptcy in December 2025, brought about by the closing of his family business, Wonderland Pier, that operated at Sixth Street and boardwalk for just shy of 60 years.
He called it a painful decision brought about by “a combination of personal financial obligations, business decisions I’ve made, unforeseen events and circumstances outside of my control (that) gradually created serious financial strain on me and my family.”
Gillian sold the Wonderland property to Mita in early 2021 and leased it back to continue operating the park until closing it permanently in October 2024, saying it was no longer financially viable.
Gillian’s personal bankruptcy is not related to the fiscal operations of Ocean City, which are overseen by Chief Financial Officer Frank Donato. Ocean City is highly rated by ratings organizations on its finances.
The documents Our Ocean City is releasing are all publicly available, including those involving lawsuits, but Crawford asserts they’re not easily accessible and that most people can be deterred from seeking them out because they are behind a pay wall.
“This is me speaking for the PAC: America’s Greatest Family Resort has a waterproof Band-Aid on it that is going to be very, very difficult to rip off,” he said. “And when you rip it off, there’s going to be some skin that comes with it.”
That quote surrounds one of the main contentions of the group — the overdevelopment of the island.
That isn’t exactly breaking news or controversial; people have been complaining about overdevelopment on the island for decades. The Our Ocean City PAC believes it is getting to the point that it could threaten the existence of having a high school on the island as year-round population drops and more properties are maxed out as oversized rentals, exacerbating parking problems in the summer when the year-round population can swell 15- or 20-fold on busy weekends.
“It’s been going on for 15, 20 years,” he said. “We’d like to see a more long-term vision bringing some residents back into the city. (Population) is declining. We don’t see the current administration doing anything to encourage that. It’s pretty much just build, build, demo, demo, demo, tear town, real estate, construction.
“Frankly, we’re tired of hearing about all these capital projects … The residents don’t care about that. We want to have families. We want the high school to still be here in 10 years,” he said.
The city has spent extensively on capital projects over the past 12 years, with flood mitigation projects taking the lion’s share, but also including back bay dredging, rebuilding the boardwalk, fixing roads, replenishing the beaches and others.
“At the rate we’re going, there’s going to be nothing but massive barracks, duplex and triplex. It’ll be Sea Isle before we know it,” Crawford said, adding the current administration is not concerned about compromise.
Asked if Fairness In Taxes has merged with the group, given Tweed’s membership in the organization, Crawford responded, “I didn’t even know that. That’s how naive I am. You can say that.”
He said he is involved because his friends and family are involved. He doesn’t want to name others because of possible retribution.
“The retribution is so bad that I’m just not willing,” Crawford said, adding that he is comfortable talking about the group only because he’s already been exposed to it.
“It’s me and Jim, officially,” he said about Our Ocean City PAC, “with a lot of help from friends and family.” That was as much detail as he provided.
Asked if he was being purposely vague, Crawford took exception. He responded he was “willing to take a chance because I care about the truth. PACs never disclose the individuals who are involved. There’s nothing new about that. I think these people are making a big stink about it because they’re not used to it.”
Crawford said the PAC is backing candidates who support a longer-term vision of the island, “without revolving doors, without conflicts of interest.” He said they believe the candidates they support are independent, “they’re not tied into this machine of what we’ve been seeing for 20 years of real estate and developers, and believe that they’ll slow some of that down and attract residents back in and bring back what once was true, America’s Greatest Family Resort. It’s why we moved here. It’s still here. You can still feel it.”
Crawford and his family vacationed in the resort since he was a child. He and his wife moved to Ocean City permanently five years ago.
“If somebody doesn’t step up and try and wake some of these people up — no, not wake them up, educate them on the facts,” he said, “the trajectory of this island is just going to be like Sea Isle before they even know what hit,” Crawford said.
“That’s the real reason for the PAC, that we’re not happy with the long-term direction with real estate and development … and the debt,” he said, and the mayor’s ties to real estate and developers.
The mayoral election is next Tuesday, May 12. Crawford expects the PAC to be active after the election as well.
– By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff