HARRISBURG – Republican Party of Pennsylvania Chairman Rob Gleason was not surprised to learn that impeached former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is equating his attempts to sell a U.S. Senate seat in Illinois with the White House’s attempts to bribe Joe Sestak out of the U.S. Senate race.

“You know it’s a bad time to be Joe Sestak when Rod Blagojevich is one of your biggest ‘Job-gate’ defenders,” Gleason said. “For months, Joe Sestak has refused to ‘spill the beans’ regarding the White House’s attempts to bribe him out of the U.S. Senate race, providing a series of confusing statements that have led to more questions than answers. It’s been seven months since ‘Job-gate’ first broke, and it looks like the only one who understands what happened is Rod Blagojevich.

“The fact of the matter is that, seven months after this story first broke, Joe Sestak is still refusing to share what actually happened regarding ‘Job-gate.’ Was he offered a paid job as he first said, or an ‘unpaid advisory position,’ as was later claimed? Did Bill Clinton offer him the position, or, now that Bill Clinton is denying his involvement, did somebody else connected with the White House offer Joe Sestak a job?

“If it’s this difficult to get Joe Sestak to ‘spill the beans’ about a potential job offer, how will Pennsylvanians be able to trust him in the future?”

On Fox News Sunday, impeached Governor Rod Blagojevich (D-Ill) equated his attempts to sell a United States Senate seat with the White House’s attempts to bribe Congressman Joe Sestak out of the U.S. Senate race, telling anchor Chris Wallace that the scandals are “the same.” (Kendra Marr, “Blago: ‘This Is Criminalized Politics,’” Politico.com, 8/22/10)

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