"Sticky Goo" Inside Remote

  I have an older Mitsubishi TV remote and the channel up/down button
stopped working.

So I took it apart, and it had some kind of "sticky goo" inside. Not
only on top of the rubber keypad between the buttons, but also between
the keypad and the circuit board. It closely resembled Vasoline.

I cleaned the entire remote with rubbing alcohol and Q-tips and now it
works fine.

Does anyone know what in the hell the sticky goo was? The only thing I
could find on Google, was that it was a natural break down of the
rubber.

(and no it has NEVER had anything spilled on it)