After a week of secrecy, Travel Oregon and its commissioners have revealed what they are paying CEO Todd Davidson to stay on in the top job for one more year after he retires this month.
Davidson, who made a $365,000 base salary in 2024 and is one of highest-paid agency heads in state government, will make $342,000 in addition to his pension.
The Oregon Journalism Project had sought the offer letter for a week after the Travel Oregon commissioners, in a 7-2 vote, approved the deal. A Travel Oregon spokesperson said the document couldn’t be disclosed because it was “incomplete” until it was signed.
Travel Oregon released the signed offer within hours of OJP publishing a story about the agency’s unwillingness to release the information. Two Oregon First Amendment lawyers said that the agency’s withholding of the letter violated Oregon law.
The chair of Travel Oregon’s board of commissioners, Lucinda DiNovo, didn’t reply to a request for information on Davidson’s new contract. Nor did Harish Patel and David Penilton, the two commissioners who voted no at the public meeting.
On the state House floor on June 18, three Oregon state representatives, Rep. Jules Walters (D-West Linn), Cyrus Javadi (R-Tillamook) and Ken Helm (D-Beaverton), criticized Travel Oregon’s leadership for not disclosing the details.
They and other lawmakers intend to hold oversight hearings on Travel Oregon and other semi-independent agencieswhose budgets are not subject to legislative approval.
“It makes no sense to me that tiny agencies like the Mortuary and Cemetery Board have a full budget review at public hearings…and a vote by every member of the legislature,” says Rep. David Gomberg (D-Otis), “but a dozen semi-independent agencies that collectively handle more than $100 million simply provide a non-debatable report every two years.”
Travel Oregon, which has 73 full-time employees, has a biennial budget of $95 million.
This article appears in Source Weekly June 19, 2025.
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$360K for a public agency head is ridiculous. Taxpayers will be paying through the nose for his retirement!
Work for a large corporation with a board and executives all getting rich………retirement picture is bleak. Work for the State of Oregon………retirement is a complete racket.
If people got as worked up about billionaires and government as they do what color tie someone is wearing…….we might be able to make a difference.