Bayoud was chief of staff to Bill Clements, the first post-Reconstruction GOP Texas governor, prior to becoming Secretary of State in ’89. As Clements’ chief of staff that year, Bayoud had to apologize to state senators for threats issued by Clements Appointments Secretary James Huffines (a Pioneer). Huffines told senators that the governor would veto their bills if they failed to confirm his appointees. Ex-Governor Ann Richards appointed Bayoud as the first chair of the Texas Ethics Commission (TEC), which was created in ‘91. During Bayoud’s tenure, the TEC dropped the ball on a proposal for electronic filing of campaign contribution reports, which set state campaign disclosures back 10 years. As TEC chair, long before he delivered $100,000 to Bush’s campaign, Bayoud once said, “To have someone write a $100,000 check for a candidate, to me, is deplorable.” Bayoud was president of the investment bank First Southwest Holdings. In ’99 he joined the board of directors of MyWeb Inc.com, a low-cost Internet service provider. Bayoud also was on the Texas National Research Laboratory Commission, affiliated with the federal government’s abandoned Texas super collider boondoggle backed by Pioneer Joe Barton.