“Our Ocean City”, a new organization filed as a “Election Related Committee” with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) has emerged, just weeks before the upcoming Ocean City, NJ, municipal elections.
The organization, which has quickly promoted Keith Hartzell, Sean Barnes, and Jim Kelly, first began posting on April 10, 2026. Since then, it has quickly taken aim at several candidates, including Mayor Jay Gillian, Jocelyn Palganas, Pete Madden, and Tony Polcini, describing them as “divisive”.
The OCNJ Current has obtained ELEC documents listing Richard Crawford as the Chairperson and Treasurer of the committee, the same individual who appeared in a Philadelphia Inquirer article advocating against the possibility of an ICONA Resort at Wonderland Pier.
ELEC Documents via OCNJ Current
ELEC Documents via OCNJ Current
The organization’s pre-election R-1 filing, which was filed on April 13th, only reported one odd expenditure: a $16,068.56 payment tied to a Brooklyn, New York, address. The payment was listed as going to “Horse & Dragon NYC” for “MEDIA - CONSULTING - INVOICE# OOC2604.” More notably, The OCNJ Current could not find an official corporation or LLC under that name that appears to be registered in New York or New Jersey.
Additionally, the committee’s website, which is a basic site presumably built on Squarespace, doesn’t even have an option for the public to donate and does not list Mr. Crawford’s name.
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