It wasn't long after Governor Chris Gregoire signed the marriage equality bill that the fundraising appeals started arriving in email inboxes, most surprisingly, this one from 1st CD candidate Suzan DelBene:

Today Washington State made history with Governor Gregoire signing marriage equality into law. This is a moment many of us will remember for the rest of our lives and one we should all be proud of.

However, just as we celebrated the passage of this landmark piece of civil rights legislation, our opponents were already collecting signatures for a referendum to undo our progress. We can’t stop now!
There is a lot at stake in this election and I need your help. We need to fight for civil rights at a national level. I am strong, outspoken supporter of marriage equality and will be a voice for LGBT families in Congress.

Will you donate $10, $25, or whatever you can to my campaign so we can continue to fight for civil rights?

And yes, that's a link to DelBene's own campaign fundraising page. Click on it, I guess, if you believe the best way to support marriage equality is to elect DelBene to Congress. Though despite DelBene's claim that she's a "strong, outspoken supporter of marriage equality," you would't know it from what DelBene told the Seattle Times in 2009:

She said she supports equal rights for gay couples but stops short of endorsing gay marriage. "My job as a representative is to support their legal rights. I think marriage implies a religious view, and churches need to make that decision themselves."

"Now, more than ever, we need leaders to stand up for what is right," DelBene writes in today's fundraising email. Though apparently, back during the 2010 election cycle, not so much.

Sigh.

It's one thing for a candidate to recast herself as a champion of a cause she stopped short of endorsing just a few years before. Politicians do that sort of thing, I guess. But it's another thing to use this historic bill signing to phish for donations that might otherwise go to fight an important referendum campaign.

I dunno, just strikes me as a little amateurish (never mind the typos), and a bit of a surprise coming from the candidate the conventionally wise consider the frontrunner, if largely on the strength of her personal bank account.

FYI, if you really want to give money to defend marriage equality, I suggest you make a big fat donation to Washington United for Marriage.