COLUMBIA - Tommy Windsor has a second chance.

Six years ago, Windsor was forced out of his investigator's job at the S.C. attorney general's office after he punched the wrong computer keys and sent hundreds of e-mails with gay-bashing, anti-black and anti-foreign sentiments.

Windsor said the e-mails were a satirical gag intended for one friend.

Now, Attorney General Henry McMaster has rehired Windsor at a salary of between $46,000 and $50,000 as an "enforcement specialist" - a civil investigator in the securities fraud division.

McMaster said he's ready to handle any flap created by Windsor's Aug. 13 hiring.

"I expected to hear from somebody at the newspaper," McMaster said.

Windsor, now 31, was 25 when he sent the controversial e-mails while working for previous Attorney General Charlie Condon, McMaster said.

"The way I look at the incident, back in '97, he made a mistake, a stupid mistake; and he's certainly paid a penalty for it," McMaster said. "We're not going to hold that mistake against a young man who did something foolish."

Not everyone is as charitable as McMaster.

"It's almost like Windsor's getting rewarded," said state Sen. Darrell Jackson, D-Richland, noting Windsor's salary is nearly $50,000. "What's the lesson here?"

In his 1997 job at the attorney general's office, Windsor made less than $30,000. (State salaries below $50,000 are made public only in ranges.)

Jackson said he doesn't object to Windsor's getting a second chance - but not in the same agency. "I'm disappointed in the attorney general," he said.

Windsor says he has learned his lesson.

"I would never do anything like that again," he said, calling it an "immature" joke. "I paid a very high price for my sense of humor."

Windsor, a Republican activist, is a former chairman of the Lexington County Republican Party. He has been an ally and friend of McMaster, a former chairman of the S.C. Republican Party.

But McMaster said politics played no role in Windsor's hiring. Of 70 applicants for the job, Windsor was the best, McMaster said.

Windsor's prior state experience is as an investigator in the secretary of state's office from 1994-96, the attorney general's office from 1996-97, and the secretary of state's office from 2000 to July. Although not a college graduate, Windsor is a graduate of the S.C. Criminal Justice Academy. His pay at his last state job was in the $46,000-$50,000 range.

Two of McMaster's top deputies - senior executive assistant Gene McCaskill and chief deputy attorney general John McIntosh - winnowed the 70 candidates and determined Windsor to be the best qualified. From there, McMaster made the final decision, McMaster and McCaskill said.

In his 1997 e-mails, Windsor thought he was writing to then-local conservative political columnist Michael Graham, a friend. Windsor said he was using satire to criticize someone who had criticized Graham.

Windsor said he has "no animosity" toward anyone of a different race, ethnic background or sexual orientation.