Michael Madigan finally addresses his aversion to cell phones, email: 'I wanted to end my day'

Former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan on Wednesday finally explained why he doesn’t use a cellphone or email.

The disclosure came as he began Day 2 on the witness stand in his own federal racketeering trial. His aversion to technology — and his daily habit of eating an apple — are just a few pieces of lore amassed during a very private, 50-year political career.

Prosecutors have sought to paint the avoidance as a cryptic way for the former speaker to engage in criminal activities.

But Madigan, 82, had a very simple explanation.

‘"Well, when cellphones came along, I was already speaker, and I had these offices [law firm, state representative and Illinois State Capitol speaker's offices] ... and I didn’t see that I had a need for a cellphone,” Madigan said. “In addition, I was a hard worker, and I worked seven days a week, and I was in the office before 8 o’clock and wouldn’t leave until 6 o’clock. And at that point, I wanted to end my day.”

Madigan said he “didn’t want to be sitting with a cellphone taking calls during the meal [dinner] or at other times when I just wasn’t on the job.”

His explanation for avoiding email was similar: “I never had an email address. When computers came along … I was already the speaker and I had those offices. I had the law office. I had people in all of them who could take transmissions through computer and give the documents to me.”

Madigan insisted that anyone who needed to reach him, “Well, they would know where I was.

“They would know I was in the local office, downtown Chicago or the Capitol building in Springfield, and they could send a document through,” Madigan said.

He said he frequently had his secretary send documents and emails.

During opening statements, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Streicker told jurors that Madigan “did not even own a cellphone” and “did not use email,” a legendary detail about Madigan that has often raised suspicions. But Madigan attorney Tom Breen pushed back, explaining that he and the speaker come from a different generation.

“He doesn’t have a cellphone, and that’s supposed to be indicia of guilt?” Breen said. “He doesn’t do email. That’s supposed to be an indicia of guilt?”

On Tuesday, jurors who have heard from nearly 60 witnesses over three months at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse found themselves finally listening to the Southwest Side Democrat accused of turning his political empire into a criminal enterprise.

Madigan is accused of leading a criminal enterprise made up of his public and political offices, as well as his private law firm, designed to enhance his political power and enrich himself and his allies. McClain, Madigan’s longtime friend and ally, is accused of acting as his agent.

Beyond flat-out denials of criminal allegations, Madigan on Tuesday revealed intensely personal revelations, including that he grew up with an alcoholic father, never heard the words “I love you” from either parent and later helped shield his adopted daughter, Lisa Madigan, from a biological father he said reduced her to tears.

“In that house, why, the word ‘nurturing’ did not exist,” Madigan said in describing his childhood Southwest Side household as cold and dominated by his father.