COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - A Richland County prosecutor has decided to turn election fraud allegations involving a top aide to Attorney General Henry McMaster over to the state Ethics Commission.

Trey Walker worked on McMaster's 2002 campaign and is now his spokesman. After the Republican primary, Walker admitted sending an e-mail disguised to look as if it came from a McMaster primary opponent, former state senator and judge Larry Richter.

Walker admitted e-mailing party loyalists a copy of an article in The State newspaper that brought out allegations aired during a judicial screening in 1988 about $50,000 in cash Richter received from a man later convicted of dealing drugs.

Richter, who says the money was tied to a real estate deal, said Walker later tearfully apologized and said he had "learned a lesson."

"More people in politics should be willing to stand up to the political hacks and the twisters of the truth," Richter said. "I saw wrong and I stood up against it."

Prosecutor Barney Giese said in a letter Monday that circumstances had changed and he was turning the issue over to the Ethics Commission.

"This matter has been hanging over my family's head for a year and a half and now I'm glad it's finally over," Walker said.

Information from: The State