All in the family with Elgin City Council

If you channel-surf onto last week's Elgin City Council committee of the whole meeting, you have to stay tuned for a moment of unusually high drama between council members Robert Gilliam and Richard Dunne.

Gilliam was upset with remarks Dunne has been making to the press. A particular instance Gilliam cited was Dunne recently telling The Courier-News that the city has yet to start a discussion about a plan for the entire neighborhood with all of the churches and groups in the area near the Buena Vista Tower apartments at 222 Locust St.

Gilliam took that to mean Dunne thinks people in the city aren't doing their jobs, instead of Dunne just having a difference of opinion on how things are being done (sorry for the pun).

Toward the end of Gilliam chastising Dunne, the senior council member told the rookie Dunne that the council is "family." Then Gilliam let Dunne know he's not going to put up with Dunne's shenanigans.

Gilliam telling Dunne he wasn't going to tolerate the firefightin' council member's chatty behavior reminded me of my Dad, circa my teen-age years. My guess is my father might even scold me the same way next time I visit him out West.

I don't know about you, but my family was hardly run as a democracy. I don't have childhood memories of voting on my bedtime or what we would be served for dinner, to name but two pieces of daily Danahey legislation.

And talk about a touchy choice of metaphors. When you get a group of guys in suits together who start calling themselves "family," images of Tony Soprano or the fed's "Operation Family Secrets" mob trials dance through your head.

Speaking of dancing, if you're old enough, you might even recall the disco tune "We Are Family" by Sister Sledge, which the Pittsburgh Pirates used as their unofficial anthem way back when the franchise actually fielded a winning team.

Haha. I bet you have that song stuck in your head now, don't you?

Anyway, after the council session, I asked Gilliam about his analogy. He admitted that even in his own family, his wife holds 51 votes to his 49.

What he said he meant by "family" is that the council members are peers, or part of a team, all with a chance to have input. And he would prefer that Dunne discuss his concerns at council meetings instead of in the press.

If people, including Dunne, wouldn't talk to me, well, I'd be lonelier, logged onto Facebook even more, and eventually out of a job. As it is, print journalists are fast becoming akin to the old Maytag repairman ads.

Plus, although anybody can set up a Web site or blog giving a personal version of the news, believe it or not, I am a trained professional who gets paid to spend time not only getting quotes from folks but, when I can, checking to see how much of it is baloney.

Gilliam understands that. It's just that he prefers making his stands known at council meetings and working out problems at the table, not in the press.

Interestingly, Gilliam and Dunne had not talked to each other about their differences in approach -- either by phone or Obama-style (over a beer) -- prior to Wednesday's meeting.

Still, Gilliam did compliment Dunne for being a good council member. And both took a "no harm, no foul" approach to what happened, noting that more often than not, the councilmen see eye to eye and show respect for each other.

"It was one disagreement. There are no hard feelings," Gilliam said.

And while that might not make the men "family," their public civility is a refreshing touch in this, the golden age of the 24-hour-cable-news-cycle blowhard. Kapish?