Todd Davidson ran the state tourism agency for three decades while making one of the highest salaries in state government.

Hotel and travel marketing groups oppose a House bill that would let public dollars earmarked for tourism promotion be diverted to pay for increased burdens on public safety and roads.

Lawmakers’ limited authority of such quasi-public agencies—all of which depend on a tax of some sort granted to them by the Legislature and the governor—has come into sharp focus.

But nobody’s minding the state agency that promotes Oregon tourism.

While the timing appeared sudden, it came five weeks after the Oregon Journalism Project first contacted Travel Oregon about an investigation.