Politics & Government

Masked McGuires Visit Shorewood Home, Say Neighbors

State Rep. Jack McGuire and his wife, Patsy, stopped by the Shorewood house they once lived in and have left to fall into disrepair.

State Rep. Jack McGuire and his wife — both wearing white safety masks — finally visited the Shorewood house where they used to live before pulling stakes and letting it fall into a shameful state of disrepair.

It was the first time in years the McGuires have been seen at the 105 Shorewood Lane home that Jack McGuire's wife, Patsy, said they lived in after marrying some time in 2000 or 2001.

"They were here probably for three minutes," said one neighbor, who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation by the 20-year veteran of the state legislature.

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"She had a mask on before she got out of the car," the neighbor said of the McGuire's brief, Tuesday morning visit.

The neighbor said Jack McGuire also donned a safety mask.

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At least two men have been toiling in the dilapidated house since before Christmas, filling two large Dumpsters with refuse and dozens of black garbage bags with trash.

A third Dumpster was dropped off at the house over the weekend, said another neighbor, who also asked that his identity be kept secret.

"That house is empty," said the first neighbor. "They're pulling out carpet now."

The men clearing out the house also wear white safety masks while working, neighbors said, but the men's masks turn black with filth early into their daily efforts.

The McGuires' neighbors had grown angry over the state of the vacant house in recent years. Patsy McGuire excused herself for neglecting the structure by saying she is "not one of the rich people in Shorewood."

“If I’m guilty of anything,” Patsy McGuire said, “it’s of being poor.”

Jack McGuire, D-Joliet, receives an annual salary of $81,953.40, according to the payroll database on the Better Government Association’s website.

McGuire, who is up for re-election in 2012, has refused to discuss the house in Shorewood or his political plans. He failed to return even more phone calls on Tuesday.

Neighbors say the McGuires abandoned the house about five years ago after a mystery man ambushed the state representative and confronted him about residing outside his district.

Jack McGuire has maintained a home in his Joliet district throughout his tenure in the Illinois House of Representatives but even his wife Patsy admitted they lived together in Shorewood for at least some of this time.

The two neighbors said they were glad the McGuires were finally doing something with the house they left vacant for so long but wonder what will become of it now.

"It's really hard to say," one of them conceded.


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