Ginny McQueen remembers the little boy full of ideas about good things to do for the Greenlawn neighborhood in Norfolk.

And Mike Flood always was dragging her two sons into his wonderful adventures.

They washed cars to raise money for a missionary family. They held the Greenlawn Olympics, with T-shirts and events for neighborhood children.

They wrote, published and sold the Greenlawn Times, and one year used the profits to give every subscribing mom a red rose.

Today, the boy who lived across the street is 31 and speaker of the Nebraska Legislature.

He’s the next-to-youngest speaker in modern history. And because term limits, with an eight-year window, has pushed newer senators into leadership roles, Flood came to the powerful position after just two years in the Legislature and no experience as a committee chairman.

His interest in government and politics started early. He grew up in a home where politics was a favorite family topic and CNN, not ESPN, was on the TV. 

But Flood strayed from the family political fold. He says he always has been a Republican, while his father, Dan, a former county attorney and now a bank trust attorney, and his mom, Ann, a psychiatric nurse, are Democrats.

“I was charmed by Ronald Reagan when I was 5 or 6,” said the new speaker, who videotaped the Republican convention when he was in fourth grade.

And, he said, the editorials he wrote for the Greenlawn Times were conservative.

“Whatever U.S. News and World Report said, that was what my editorial said.”

Flood got his introduction to the legislative world from former Sen. Connie Day of Norfolk, who died in 2001.

“She was very kind to me. She paid attention to what I thought as it related to young people.

“I always thought that (state senator) would be a great job,” he said, one that would allow him to continue to live and work in Norfolk, where he has a law practice and owns KUSO, an FM country-western music radio station he started.

In a nonpartisan Legislature with no party structure and no whips, the speaker is one of the power points, said former Speaker Dennis Baack.

Lobbyist Walt Radcliffe compares the power to that of a stop light. When you control the speed, the flow, the direction of the body, it ultimately affects the body, he said.

Generally, Radcliffe said, a good speaker needs to be fair and approachable and have what often is referred to as judicial temperament.

Flood already had impressed many with his measured floor speeches, his in-depth research on such issues as natural gas and constitutional questions surrounding the impeachment of University of Nebraska Regent David Hergert.

Flood, the oldest of three children, always has been mature for his age, said Ginny McQueen, who now lives in Lincoln.

And even in the days when the boys headed for the basement to talk about the newspaper, it was clear Mike Flood probably would be a political leader, Larry McQueen said.

In high school, Flood started a leadership council of students from public and parochial schools who still meet to discuss civic issues.

He formed the group to successfully fight a city ordinance that would have banned students from working in businesses that sold liquor, including grocery stores. The ordinance would have prevented grocery stores from selling alcohol or teens from working at them, he said.

Flood got his first job at 15, working one night a week as the overnight announcer and janitor at a local radio station, WJAG.

He said he learned a lot about his local community through that job, but it probably kept him from getting really good grades, he said.  

“I didn’t get all As. I was so enamored with the radio business. It was just one night a week, but I thought about it the rest of the week.”

Flood, a Notre Dame graduate with a law degree from the University of Nebraska, says he became a better student in college.  

In the Statehouse, Flood is being compared to Bob Crosby, who a month younger than Flood when he was elected speaker in 1943. 

Ten years later, the young attorney from North Platte became the “boy governor.”

Flood says he’s never had ambitions for a specific office, but he’s not ruling out running for a higher office at some point. He also is not looking beyond today. .

“I’m just trying to deal with being speaker,” he said. “Honest to God, I did not imagine when I ran for election that I would be in this position.”

Before term limits, Flood said, he probably wouldn’t even have considered running for a committee chairmanship until he had been in office for four years.

For now, being a state senator fits his life, which includes his wife, Mandi, 7-month old son, Brenden, and a new house.

“I like working in Norfolk. I like my friends in Norfolk. I like the community, and my jobs. This job allows me to maintain my home.  It’s been a good fit.”

Flood’s election is a combination of timing and talent. He was elected during a transition year for the Legislature, which has 22 new members and a term limits landscape that provides an eight-year time table.

Many of those 22 saw no problem electing an inexperienced, if thoughtful, senator as speaker, and Flood encouraged that attitude with his focus on innovation in his nomination speech. 

There are 22 people fresh out of a campaign with new ideas and no sense that some things can’t get done.

“We will create new traditions and new ways of doing the Legislature’s business,” he said during an interview last week.

Flood is obviously uncomfortable talking about himself.

“I usually don’t talk about this stuff. I’m not into blowing my own horn.”

But there are plenty of others quick to point out his attributes.

“I think his intellect and the way he handles himself make him wise beyond his years,” said Lincoln attorney Andrew Loudon, who was Flood’s counselor at Boys State, where the boy from Norfolk lost his bid for governor. 

“I think he will surprise people in the Legislature with how well he does,” said Loudon, who is three years older than Flood.

Loudon also thinks it’s “cool,” even “awesome,” to have someone so young in the speaker’s chair.

Reach Nancy Hicks at 473-7250 or nhicks@journalstar.com.