This "reporter" is not a reporter. He's a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and writes regular columns for the Wash. Times. Here's a part of his bio from townhall.com.
Over the course of his career, Alan Reynolds has worked as a scholar, a columnist, a business strategist and a government advisor. Presently, he is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. He previously served as director of economic research at the Hudson Institute, and as vice president and chief economist at both Polyconomics and at the First National Bank of Chicago.
In 1996, Reynolds served as research director with the National Commission on Tax Reform and Economic Growth (the "Kemp Commission"). One of the original "supply side" economists, Reynolds worked with Alan Greenspan and Larry Kudlow on David Stockman's Office of Management and Budget transition team in 1981.
That said, the Wash. Times had another column in today's paper, which esentially said the same thing. It perhaps explained what happened a bit more clearly. It was written by Jack Kemp (also not a reporter). Unfortunately, the Times doesn't seem to have Kemp's column on their web site.
How does one "work as a scholar?"