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Columnist had a point

I was very happy to see our state Sen. Anne Gillespie write a rebuttal to Jim Nowlan's op-ed and his views on poverty in East St. Louis. It comforts me that she is selectively correcting opinions that do not fit the liberal Democratic narrative.

I still remember speaking with her at one of her Arlington Heights open houses and asked what could be done to start improving Illinois finances, since I assumed continuing to raise taxes was not a viable option. Her response was Illinois is not a high-tax state. If she is reading this, I suggest she look at Kiplinger's Oct. 1 state-by-state tax guide, which ranks Illinois the worst among the nation's 10 least tax-friendly states. Hopefully she becomes better informed before voting on tax legislation.

Mr. Nowlan suggests we look at how Asian ethnic groups have achieved success and see if it can be applied to the black community. Ms. Gillespie completely rejects this and suggests we maintain our failed programs. I'm just guessing, but the Asian success story may be due to first getting an education, getting a job, getting into a committed relationship, having a mother and father in the home when they decide to have children, proper diet and care during pregnancy, proper nurturing care for the child during its first years of life, having the child respect authority and expect the child to study and get a good education.

Maybe Mr. Nowlan was on the right track and money spent on keeping students in school and on life coaches and counselors would be more useful than providing monetary incentive to teenagers to have illegitimate children. It should warrant a discussion, but based on the Ms. Gillespie's response and the Democrats' disgraceful behavior at the AG William Barr hearing, civil discussions on anything no longer seem possible.

Michael Haase

Mount Prospect

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