MCKEE

Rep. Stephen R. Ucci will undergo a preventive cancer treatment beginning this week that will probably keep the ambitious Johnston lawmaker from attending a special House session scheduled for mid-October.

“Despite my treatment and recuperation this fall, I want to make it perfectly clear I will be accessible and active in the promotion of Johnston’s and Cranston’s interests,” he said in a statement. “Our state is in crisis, and I will continue to bring the thoughts and concerns of this district to the State House.”

Ucci, who hopes to replace House Speaker William J. Murphy should the speaker step down, successfully battled Hodgkin’s lymphoma last year. At one point, several colleagues shaved their heads to support Ucci, who had lost his hair because of cancer treatment.

He has been cancer-free since then.

Tuesday, Ucci will report to Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, where, over a three-week period, doctors will perform treatments known as autologous stem-cell therapy — similar to a bone-marrow transplant. The treatment will require about eight weeks of recuperation once he returns home from the hospital.

“I feel it is important to share this information with my constituents. They have been so supportive throughout my battle with cancer,” Ucci said. “Everyone faces obstacles in their lives and I want the residents of Johnston and Cranston to know that I will continue to be available to them.”

In a separate interview with Political Scene, Ucci reiterated his desire to become the Speaker of the House, despite the health challenges.

“We need to change the way things run,” he said. “It seems like all we do is get the budget passed and run out the building. There’s no policy agenda; we’re not fixing any problems.”

Should the speaker’s post become vacant — Murphy has suggested he would not seek another term — Ucci would face at least two known contenders for what is arguably the most powerful elected position in state government: Rep. Gregory J. Schadone and House Majority Leader Gordon D. Fox.

Ucci acknowledged hearing from colleagues that Fox has been lobbying members for support.

“I know Gordon’s out talking to people, which means he at least sees an opportunity,” Ucci said. “I can’t imagine he would do so without the speaker’s blessing.”

A spokesman for Murphy and Fox declined comment.

Kennedy condolences

If you’re looking for one last chance to pay your respects to the late Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, try the State House, or your local town hall.

Rep. Patrick Kennedy’s office has placed memorial books around the state in honor of his late father, according to the governor’s office.

The one at the Rhode Island State House sits on a table above the state seal — next to a stack of prayer cards and a collage of photographs memorializing the late senator: Ted Kennedy at a football game with a much younger Patrick; the elder Kennedy mid-speech during an event at Woonsocket’s Mount St. Charles Academy.

A second book is in the lobby of Providence City Hall, with still others placed in many town offices across Rhode Island’s District 1, the district that Patrick Kennedy represents.

By late last week, the list of well-wishers who signed the State House book was long. Signatures from North Carolina, New Hampshire and Indiana were interspersed with more local names.

Kennedy’s office has not said how long the books will be available.

McKee is Mr. June

Cumberland Mayor Daniel J. McKee is Mr. June 2010.

Got your attention now?

McKee is the only New England official to be included in the Democrats for Education Reform 2009/2010 calendar, which the organization sent out last week.

The mayor’s appearance comes in recognition of his leadership in starting a new kind of charter school, the mayoral academy.

Democracy Prep Blackstone Valley opened Aug. 31, welcoming 76 kindergartners from Central Falls, Cumberland, Lincoln and Pawtucket, and McKee says he hopes to open a series of the alternative public schools across the state.

Other honorees in the organization’s calendar include U.S. Rep. George Miller of California, who chairs the House Education and Labor Committee; Washington, D.C., Mayor Adrian Fenty, who is the former boss of Rhode Island’s new education commissioner, Deborah A.Gist; and Cory Booker, mayor of Newark, N.J.

Back to school

A member of the Obama cabinet is scheduled to visit Rhode Island Tuesday, part of an effort across 11 states to bring key Washington officials to local educational facilities during the president’s “back to school” speech aimed at schoolchildren.

U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis, joined by Sen. Jack Reed, will tour the Exeter Job Corps Academy, a residential youth development program that provides disadvantaged youth with education and training. Solis and Reed plan to join students watching Mr. Obama’s national address from a Virginia high school, which will be broadcast on C-SPAN at noon.

The White House has dubbed the outreach effort “My Education, My Future.” The president’s plan to speak directly to students has drawn fire across the country from some conservatives who have threatened to keep their children out of school.

Labor fight

You won’t see any ads for this campaign on television or in the newspaper, but the battle to control Rhode Island’s AFL-CIO is heating up.

Union officials will gather Wednesday night in the Rhode Island Convention Center to elect a new leadership team for the umbrella organization of more than 250 local labor unions that represents 80,000 people. Longtime president Frank J. Montanaro decided not to seek reelection after nearly two decades in the top elected position.

The night before the election, a team of challengers that includes State House regular and Council 94 lobbyist and political coordinator Jim Cenerini, will host a 6 p.m. fundraiser, dubbed “Labor Fire,” at the Providence Firefighters Hall on Printery Street. The proceeds from the event –– which requires tickets ranging from $10 to $1,000 –– will benefit Cenerini, a candidate for the AFL-CIO’s secretary-treasurer position, and William C. McGowan, of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 2323, who is seeking the presidency.

The informal team faces an uphill battle.

McGowan must defeat current secretary-treasurer George Nee. And Cenerini must defeat the establishment’s favorite, Maureen G. Martin, political activity director of the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers.

Curious what Cenerini and McGowan might spend their money on? So are we.

Cenerini declined to discuss strategy, except to say campaign literature had been distributed. We may never know, given that candidates are not required to report expenditures associated with internal elections.

cneedham@projo.com