It’s not Jack Latvala’s birthday!

I was not sure if today was state Sen. Jack Latvala’s birthday, so I double-checked the list of lawmakers birthdays furnished by LobbyTools.

Nope, today is definitely not the senior Latvala’s birthday. It’s Nov. 3.

Still …

If you had told Sen. Latvala last year that come the first day of spring he would be:

1. on his way to becoming Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee;
2. have most of the budget items he prioritized not vetoed by Gov. Rick Scott; and
3. serving this November in a Gaetz-free Florida Senate

… you’d have thought all of his birthday wishes had come true.

No, he’s not going to be Pinellas County’s first Senate President in 100 years, but after Monday, with Matt Gaetz, the scion of his bête noire Don Gaetz, abandoning his state Senate bid to run for Congress, Latvala has to be smiling like the Cheshire Cat.

So, happy birthday, Sen. Latvala – even if I am eight months early.