The State Senate’s rejection of high-profile UH regent Kitty Lagareta has produced  high-octane rhetoric from both sides.

Lagareta: The Legislature is trying to micro-manage the UH and lawmakers don’t like anyone who bucks their will.

Senate: The UH is struggling in many areas and the Regents are ultimate responsible.

All true. All true.

Over the years the Legislature has gone out of its way to tell the University how it should manage its affairs. Reluctantly, lawmakers gave the UH “autonomy” but that hasn’t stopped folks from trying to put their thumb in the academic pie where it isn’t wanted.

By the same token, the Regents are ultimately responsible for the UH and must answer to the folks who have to balance the state budget. And if the Senate’s advice and consent powers are to mean anything, it has to be able to refuse to consent from time-to-time.

So Senators have the right to reject anyone they want. But you can’t help wondering whether Lagareta’s in-your-face style and close association with Republican Gov. Linda Lingle didn’t have more than a little to do with the Senate’s decision to choose her particular appointment as the place to demonstrate their independence and concern about the state’s premier university.

When it comes to loyalty, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who values it more highly than Sen. Daniel K. Inouye.

Inouye’s first point of reference is loyalty, whether it is dealing with his party, his political supporters, the U.S. Senate or his friends.

But when competing demands for loyalty occur, as they must, it is clear that Inouye puts personal relationships above all else. That’s the easy and understandable explanation for Inouye’s decision to host a pricey Washington D.C. fundraiser for his buddy and senate colleague Ted Stevens of Alaska, a Republican.

Ordinarily, Inouye makes almost a fetish of backing Democrats even when just about everyone else has taken a different path. That was the case, for instance, years ago when the dominant Democrats in the state were quietly, but obviously, behind Republican D.G. Andy” Anderson in his challenge to maverick Frank Fasi.

Fasi had done Inouye no particular favors over the years. And Anderson was more than acceptable to most of the party powers. But Inouye, stressing the importance of party loyalty, publicly backed Fasi.

So his support for Republican Stevens transcends even the bedrock principle of party loyalty. Inouye mght not say it, but in addition to friendship, there is another key to his wanting Stevens back. The two work closely together, watching each other’s back and helping the other whenever possible. They split votes on occasional party-line litmus test issues, but day-to-day work cooperatively.

From Inouye’s perspective, Stevens is more than a pal. He is on many occasions a reliable “third vote” for Hawaii in the Senate.

Reason enough to want him back there.