HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) – A classic Ford Mustang once owned by former Gov. John G. Rowland and restored under questionable circumstances during his administration is being raffled off to benefit a Connecticut charity.

The Connecticut Autism Resource & Education Alliance is offering the 1967 green convertible as the grand prize in its Nov. 17 drawing.

The organization’s Web site describes the car as having only 1,035 miles since its restoration and mentions that Rowland – who served federal prison time on a corruption charge – was a former owner.

Rowland received the car as a surprise birthday gift in 1999 from friends and aides who paid to restore it. But during the federal corruption investigation that led to Rowland’s 2004 resignation, a witness told the FBI that $8,000 of the restoration money came from now-jailed businessman William Tomasso.

Raffle organizer Margaret Jordan said it seemed right to disclose the car’s former owner on the Web site. Raffle proceeds will benefit the kind of intensive programs that enabled her 7-year-old son to overcome autism, she said.

“Something really good has come out of what could be called a bad situation,” she said.

The group is getting the Mustang from the Berlin resident who bought it for $22,000 from Rowland in late 1999. Jordan said he is not donating it and that she didn’t know yet how much he would be paid, but that “he tends to be a very generous individual” as a top supporter of the alliance.

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On the Net:

Autism alliance Web site: http://www.ctautism.org/

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Information from: The Hartford Courant, http://www.courant.com

AP-ES-09-09-06 1222EDT