Thoughts From The Publisher’s Desk

This week was not the first time allocating marketing dollars to promote Ocean City’s booming fishing industry has been discussed with the city’s elected officials, but it might be the most organized and likely to have a significant impact.

At this week’s Tourism Commission, Scott Lenox, resident fishing guru known for hosting the Hooked On OC show, outlined an effort to concentrate Ocean City promotion efforts specifically on all things fishing in Ocean City. The idea is to tout around a fishing booth to trade shows in surrounding states highlighting the fishing opportunities that abound in Ocean City along with all its other amenities. Lenox was hoping for $15,000 from the city to help with the marketing package at the trade shows, which he estimates attendance at about 300,000.

The commission seemed to like what it heard, and Mayor Rick Meehan recommended allocating the city’s $10,000 trade show budget to the initiative. Those dollars would be used on promoting the Fish In OC concept at trade shows, similar to the OC Experience booth previously. The council will decide on this later in the month. It seems like a no-brainer to me.

Ocean City is a major fishing destination offering family fun as well as appeal to the novice and the experienced sportsmen. This private-public partnership should immediately bear fruit for the local economy.

It’s one of those concepts assumed to have already been done by the town, but fishing has never really been independently marketed and it’s a good idea. Golf has gotten that sort of attention in the past, largely from the private sector.

In my opinion, part of this marketing effort needs to include the impressive fishing tournaments hosted annually in Ocean City and West Ocean City area.

It’s no secret a major part of Ocean City’s tourism economy are special events. Successful public and private events that cause an economic impact through their major draws of people are critical to Ocean City. Ocean City is in an interesting period currently because there are the private events of old that are economic engines, such as the Seaside Boat and the cheerleading convention in February, Cruisin in May and October and the White Marlin Open in early August, among others, and then there is the momentum of newer events like Jeep Week in August, Bike Week in September and the OC Air Show in June, to name a few.

Mixed in somewhere between the old mainstay events and the new special events are the numerous fishing tournaments held in Ocean City throughout the summer. These tourneys are diverse enough to appeal to all demographics and would seem to be logical marketing points to make when boasting about fishing here.

The council would be wise to approve this small expenditure in an expedient fashion so this travel booth can get on the road in short order.

Although election season is over for most residents, it has gotten to the point of late that it never truly comes to an end for the elected officials looking to stay in office or those seeking an elected post.

As an example, already some thoughts are turning to the rematch between Senator Jim Mathias and Delegate Mike McDermott. Mathias defeated McDermott in the election last week, and it was a tight contest that came down to absentee ballots before an official winner was declared.

In an interview this week, McDermott said he will be taking on Mathias again in 2018. In his comments, he struck a familiar tune heard during the campaign.

“We’ll give it another try. We’re not going anywhere. This is a winnable seat,” he said. “I guess I can’t be too unhappy about losing in a race in which I was outspent by about 10-1. Despite that, I still only lost by about 1,000 votes.”

It’s also worth noting now that the general election — called the mid-term election on the national front — is complete the presidential election in 2016 will take the spotlight. As expected, Republican Dr. Ben Carson has all but made it official he will run, giving Republicans everywhere extreme optimism they will be able to take back the White House.

For Governor-Elect Larry Hogan to be an effective governor in the blue state of Maryland, he will have to be able to sit down with leading Democrats to discuss policy. That was the major shortcoming of former Gov. Bob Ehrlich, who had poor relations with leaders of the dominant party and was largely unable to get his policy priorities passed as a result.

Hogan certainly understands the stalemate that occurred in Annapolis as he was in Ehrlich’s cabinet. Further evidence of this realization could be seen this week when he tapped a former Democratic state senator and delegate, Robert Neall, to lead his budget and tax team. That’s a pivotal appointment because Hogan largely campaigned on economic issues, which struck an accord with most voters, as evidenced by the election results last week.