South County : Leucadia Man to Seek Packard’s Congress Seat

Howard Greenebaum, 57, of Leucadia, a retired jewelry retailer and manufacturer from Maryland, announced Monday he will seek the Democratic nomination next year to the 43rd Congressional District seat now held by Republican Ron Packard of Carlsbad.

About two-thirds of the district is in northern San Diego County, and the rest is in southern Orange County.

Greenebaum conceded he will have “an extremely difficult race” in the predominantly Republican district but added that “a good part of this district are new arrivals. . . . It’s not like old Republican areas where generations have voted Republican. This is a well-educated, enlightened area with no old allegiances.”

Greenebaum said he ran twice in Maryland’s 4th Congressional District, finishing second in the Democratic primary in 1982, then winning the 1984 primary but losing in the general election.

“I got disgusted with that area, even though I was born in it,” Greenebaum said. “It’s fairly accurately described as a George Wallace area. They don’t let blacks walk through the door. I’m not black, but I am Jewish, and the bigotry extends past the color of skin.”

Greenebaum said he moved to Southern California in January, 1985, and since has become “very involved with the environmental movement in California.”