If you’re going to DC like me, then you’ll definitely want to take the chance to meet your congressman.

I plan to. In fact, I’m really looking forward to meeting Rep. Adam Schiff since I used to be the city editor for our sister-papers, the Glendale News-Press and the Burbank Leader, which cover him, and Schiff happens to be my representative. Schiff’s open house will be 1 to 3 p.m. Monday in his DC office at 2447 Rayburn House Office Building. When I talked to his spokesman, Sean Oblack, he said to look him up and that he’d be easy to spot. “I’ll be the really tall one.”

Not absolutely sure yet about Rep. Brad Sherman’s plans, but Randy Scholnick of Newport Beach, who is a family friend of Sherman’s, heard the congressman’s having an open house Monday as well. Sherman and his wife will be there, thanks to their congressman, Rep. John Campbell. They’ll also want to make an appearance at Campbell’s mini-townhall-style get-together Monday at 1507 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, DC, 20515. If you’re DC-bound and you’d like to ask Campbell a question or two, make a reservation by calling (202) 225-5611.

Scholnick, who runs his heating and air-conditioning business, Air Doctors, out of his Corona Del Mar house, put his name into the lottery for swearing-in tickets like many others in Campbell’s district. He got a call back earlier this month saying he won the lottery.

“They asked me if I was going and I said, ‘I don’t have air fare or a place to stay, but I’ll be there,” Scholnick said.

Scholnick and his wife initially were Hillary Clinton supporters, but when they “saw the writing on the wall” he said it was easy to switch over to Barack Obama.

Scholnick scored a bedroom near the Pentagon through Craigslist that was advertised at $150 a night, but the owners cut it down to $80. Then, after trying some of those discount travel sites like I did (I booked mine through Orbitz), he decided the best deal was Jet Blue. Like me, they’ll have one stopover each way, but that’s not too bad. We’re hoping the lousy weather doesn’t slow us down.

Scholnick said he’s excited about the Obama administration because of the president-elect’s pledge to seek more clean-energy initiatives.

“We’re really bucking the trend with this economy,” Scholnick said, explaining how many companies are looking to retrofit buildings to save money on heating and air conditioning.

I hope to catch up with him when I’m in town, along with some journalism friends from Chicago. I’m catching a red-eye tonight after work, and hope to blog some more tomorrow — maybe after a little rest, though!

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