WASHINGTON —Howard Friedman has heard the chatter from his own community to Capitol Hill — sometimes questions, sometimes complaints about the federal workforce, its size and its cost.
The Gaithersburg man, an attorney and union leader at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, wants to change the conversation.
“We’ve been criticized far too long, strictly on matters dealing with the size of the workforce and our compensation,” he said. “I think people don’t really understand the direct connection between what we do and the quality of life in our country for taxpayers and for everybody.”