Umbehr made history when he challenged the decision of his county commissioners to terminate a contract with Keen’s trash business in 1991. Umbehr held that terminating his contract because he spoke out against the county government was an unconstitutional attack on his 1st Amendment Rights. That challenge went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court where it established the precedent that government contractors have whistleblower protection just as do government employees.
In 1996 he was named a Distinguished Kansan by the Topeka Capital- Journal. In 1998 he received a Free Spirit Award from The Freedom Forum, a nonpartisan foundation dedicated to free press, free speech and free spirit for all people.
Two years after his Supreme Court victory, at the age of 40, Keen sold his trash company and returned to college at Kansas State University to finish his bachelor’s degree.
Keen graduated from the Washburn University School of Law in May of 2005. Since then, Umbehr has continued his fight for government transparency and accountability. In one of his higher profile cases, Umbehr was instrumental in exposing the sexual exploitation of female inmates at the Topeka Correctional Facility in 2009.
Umbehr is courting not only Libertarians and Unaffiliated voters but also those who are traditional Republicans and Democrats. To the surprise of those who don’t know Keen, he choose to attend both the Democrat and Republican Party State Conventions this year; offering even those voters a clear choice in the upcoming election. He has established a campaign office in Alma, a growing campaign staff, and is actively fundraising from individuals for the Keen for Kansas campaign.
His goal is to visit all 105 Kansas counties during his campaign and in each county he is going to ask for the people of Kansas to vote with courage. Umbehr says he’s going to tell each and every voter, “As your governor, I will uphold the constitution, preserve your civil liberties, provide equal treatment under the law and promote government transparency and accountability while reducing its size and scope.”
