For a yet-unexplained reason, somebody at the White House contacted Joe Sestak’s brother and campaign manager yesterday. According to Roll Call, Richard Sestak — also a lawyer — was in discussions with the White House prior to today’s official statement on the accusations of corruption.

Rep. Joe Sestak, the Democratic nominee in the Pennsylvania Senate race, disclosed Thursday that White House officials contacted his brother in preparation for a response to allegations that Sestak was offered a job in the Obama administration as an enticement not to challenge incumbent Sen. Arlen Specter.

Faced with mounting scrutiny from Capitol Hill and accusations that such an offer might violate the law, President Barack Obama promised Thursday to have “an official response shortly on the Sestak issue.”

He offered the fishy-smelling response today, but again not before the call was made to Sestak’s brother and campaign manager.

Sestak said his brother and an unnamed White House official or officials spoke about “what was going to occur.” Sestak declined to identify who made the call for the administration, adding that he has had no direct contact with the White House.

Sestak called Obama a “pretty legitimate person.” He added, “But we’ll find out shortly what they have to say.”

Sestak was tight-lipped about the situation, declining to comment on whether he would agree with the White House’s take on the situation. He pledged to say more — and even to return to Washington for a Capitol Hill news conference over the weekend or early next week — once the White House had made its announcement.

“When the president speaks — or whoever speaks from the White House — we obviously will have something to say,” he said.

The White House is being accused by a fellow Democrat of committing a felony worthy of impeachment. It sounds to me like the administration was calling Sestak’s brother ahead of the statement so as to get their stories straight. This is a scandal and the White House wants to ensure there are no discrepancies between the likely-concocted stories.