Welcome to the first Capitol Ideas podcast of 2011. It’s a new year, a new session, and we’re speaking today with a new member of the Legislature, Washington state Representative Cindy Ryu. Cindy was elected in November to represent the state’s 32nd legislative district, a north King and south Snohomish county district that stretches from Edmonds in the northwest all the way down to Kirkland in the southeast. In between, the district includes Lake Forest Park, Kenmore, and Shoreline, Cindy’s home. Representative Ryu is new to the statehouse, but this isn’t her first taste of public service. She’s a former president of the Shoreline Chamber of Commerce, and served on that city’s city council for two years before her election as mayor in 2008. Two months ago she became the first Korean-American woman elected to serve in the state House of Representatives.