High Water in the News

POLITICO INFLUENCER IN WASHINGTON
WHO’S CLOSE TO THE NEXT HOUSE APPROPS CHAIR: GOP Rep. Kay Granger of Texas is the new top appropriator in the House as head of the House Appropriations Committee. With funding the government widely expected to be a slog in the new Congress, after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy promised conservatives a vote on a budget to slash spending across the board, including potentially for the Pentagon, lobbyists with ties to the new chairwoman — of which there are many — are sure to become a hot commodity downtown. Here is a (non-exhaustive) guide.

— Kasey Pipes, one of Granger’s first communications directors, who eventually worked in the George W. Bush administration, co-founded Corley Pipes Consulting, where he does crisis comms, issue management and media relations.

POLITICO INSIDER IN WASHINGTON

CORLEY CONSULTING TO MERGE WITH TEXAS FIRM: D.C. and Texas-based lobbying firm Corley Consulting is merging with Texas firm High Water Consulting, with the resulting shop operating under the banner High Water Strategies. Scott Corley, a former Senate staffer who used to lobby in-house for Microsoft and the Information Technology Industry Council; Kasey Pipes, a former aide to House Appropriations ranking member Kay Granger (R-Texas); Colby Hale, a former chief of staff to Rep. Roger Williams (R-Texas); and Stewart Young, a former senior adviser to Ivanka Trump, will all be partners in the new firm, which will have offices in D.C. and Dallas-Fort Worth, and continue working on immigration, tech, defense, energy and appropriations issues.