Editing Center for Public Integrity (section)

===2005–2007===
Lewis served as CPI's director until January 2005. As of his departure, CPI had published 14 books and more than 250 investigative reports. In 2005, CPI had a staff of 40 full-time Washington-based reporters who partnered with a network of writers and editors in more than 25 countries.<ref name="growing importance"/> Years later, Lewis said he decided to leave his position at CPI because "he didn't want it to become 'an institution that was Chuck's Excellent Adventure".<ref name="AJR-Buzenberg">{{cite news| last = Hartmann| first = Anath| title = Center of Attention| publisher = American Journalism Review| date = December 2007| url = http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=4442| access-date = November 29, 2007| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130628180128/http://ajr.org/Article.asp?id=4442| archive-date = 2013-06-28| url-status = dead}}</ref> Lewis' departure surprised and upset philanthropists Herb and Marion Sandler, who had partially funded the CPI's activities.<ref name="NYT-Sandler-Profile">{{cite news| last = Nocera| first = Joe| title = The Money Issue| work=[[The New York Times]]| date = March 9, 2008| url = https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/magazine/09Sandlers-t.html}}</ref>

In December 2004, CPI's board of directors chose television journalist [[Roberta Baskin]] as Lewis's successor. Baskin came to CPI after directing consumer investigations for [[20/20 (US television series)|ABC News's 20/20]] and serving as Washington correspondent for PBS's ''[[NOW on PBS|NOW with Bill Moyers]]''.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://voices.washingtonpost.com/federal-eye/2009/08/roberta_baskin_joins_hhs.html| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120307053817/http://voices.washingtonpost.com/federal-eye/2009/08/roberta_baskin_joins_hhs.html| url-status=dead| archive-date=March 7, 2012| title=Roberta Baskin Joins HHS as Adviser | newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=August 3, 2009|access-date=June 10, 2012}}</ref> Lewis wrote that "most of the Center's carefully assembled, very talented, senior staff had quit by the fall of 2005".<ref name="growing importance"/>

In September 2005, CPI announced that it had discovered a pattern of plagiarism in the past work of a staff writer for CPI's 2002 book ''Capitol Offenders''. CPI responded by hiring a copy editor to review all work, issuing a revised version of ''Capitol Offenders'', sending letters of apology to all reporters whose work was plagiarized, authoring a new corrections policy, and returning an award the book received from [[Investigative Reporters and Editors]].<ref name = "Baskin-AJR-Letter">{{cite news | last = Baskin | first = Roberta | title = Taken Aback | publisher = American Journalism Review | date = March 2008
 | url = http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=4468 | access-date = 2008-03-13 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130511214846/http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=4468 | archive-date = May 11, 2013
 | url-status = dead }}</ref> He went on to work for a political consulting firm that specializes in [[opposition research]].<ref>{{cite news |last      = Prince |first     = Richard |title     = What's in the Floodwater? |publisher = Maynard Institute |date      = September 14, 2005 |url       = http://www.maynardije.org/richardprince/whats-floodwater|archive-url = https://archive.today/20130415082910/http://www.maynardije.org/richardprince/whats-floodwater|url-status  = dead|archive-date = April 15, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last      = Bice |first     = Daniel
 |title     = Integrity washout finds niche dredging muck in court race |publisher = [[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]] |date      = March 28, 2007 |url       = http://milwaukee-journal-sentinel.vlex.com/vid/integrity-washout-niche-dredging-muck-74398525|archive-url = https://archive.today/20130209010056/http://milwaukee-journal-sentinel.vlex.com/vid/integrity-washout-niche-dredging-muck-74398525
|url-status  = dead|archive-date = February 9, 2013}}</ref> In March 2007, he told the ''[[Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel]]'' that the center's official version "is not accurate in telling the full story of why I left the center," but did not elaborate.

Baskin led the organization until May 24, 2006.<ref name=CPIAnnualReport2005 />

Baskin was followed by Wendell Rawls Jr., who was named the center's interim executive director.<ref name="WendellRawlsInterim">{{cite news | title = Takings Initiatives Accountability Project ... About This Project
 | publisher = [[CPI]] | date = September 1, 2006 | url = https://www.publicintegrity.org/2006/09/01/9031/about-project}}</ref> Rawls had previously worked as the center's managing director — being named to that post by Baskin on December 19, 2005. He joined CPI in August 2005.<ref name="WendellRawlsPRN">{{cite news |title        = Pulitzer Winner Rawls Named Managing Director of the Center for Public Integrity |publisher    = [[PR Newswire]] |date         = December 19, 2005 |url          = http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pulitzer-winner-rawls-named-managing-director-of-the-center-for-public-integrity-55591362.html
 |access-date  = 2017-01-22 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20170202030231/http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pulitzer-winner-rawls-named-managing-director-of-the-center-for-public-integrity-55591362.html |archive-date = 2017-02-02 |url-status     = dead}}</ref>