Despite $2 billion budget shortfall and the fact that Georgia legislators are actually talking seriously about giving up pork, Governor Sonny Perdue is pressing forward with his $23 million "Go Fish" project:

Amid state employee furloughs and calls for massive spending cuts, work is set to begin this week on the $23 million Go Fish Center down the road from Gov. Sonny Perdue’s home in Houston County.

Department of Natural Resources officials said Perdue signed the contract to get the project moving earlier this month. That was two months after he told state agencies to cut spending 6 percent to make up for a projected $1.6 billion budget shortfall.

But the cutbacks — which will affect everything from schools and health programs to veterans — didn’t include Perdue’s Go Fish Center, which was approved for funding more than a year ago. Perdue’s proposed cuts were for spending approved by lawmakers this year, not in 2007.

The facility, which will include a fish hatchery, welcome center, exhibits and public fishing ponds, is the most expensive piece of Perdue’s Go Fish program aimed at increasing fishing tourism in the state. It is being built in Perry.

Although many of them voted for the budget that included the Go Fish money in 2007, Democrats decried the decision to go forward with the project while the state faces a fiscal crisis.