When a powerful labor leader picked up the phone this week, he was surprised to hear the voice of a top aide to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York.

The aide, Kevin Sheekey, a deputy mayor, made it clear: Caroline Kennedy is going to be the next senator from New York, “so get on board now,” according to a person with direct knowledge of the call.

As Ms. Kennedy’s unusual campaign for the seat takes shape, the mayor’s top political strategist is pushing hard behind the scenes for her, with Mr. Bloomberg’s blessing.

The involvement has helped immediately elevate and coordinate the debut of Ms. Kennedy, who lacked an experienced political staff of her own.

But now, it is setting off a backlash among some Democrats who see in her well-orchestrated emergence the same message of inevitability and entitlement that surrounded Mr. Bloomberg’s successful bid for a third term — a campaign overseen by Mr. Sheekey.

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They worry that the Bloomberg administration’s advocacy for Ms. Kennedy will only reinforce her image as a privileged Upper East Sider whose biggest base of support is from Manhattan’s exclusive social set.

“It appears to be another case of central casting by the city’s cognoscenti,” said a Democratic city councilman, John C. Liu. “It’s amazing how much it’s all about the upper crust.”

Rory I. Lancman, a state assemblyman, said that there was “a growing concern that high public office is being reserved for a better class of people — people who can buy into it like Michael Bloomberg or people who can come into it through their celebrity like Caroline Kennedy.”

Ms. Kennedy embarked on a tour of upstate and western New York on Wednesday in an effort to overcome skepticism about her inexperience. She was scheduled to meet with the Rev. Al Sharpton on Thursday morning in Harlem.

Questions about Mr. Sheekey’s role prompted Mr. Bloomberg to declare on Wednesday that the mastermind of his two political campaigns was acting on behalf of Ms. Kennedy as a private citizen, not as a public employee.

“If Kevin in his private time wants to make calls for that, that’s his choice,” Mr. Bloomberg said. When asked whether he was supporting Ms. Kennedy’s bid for the Senate, the mayor said: “I am not out there campaigning for anyone.”

Mr. Sheekey declined to be interviewed.

But even as he says he is not taking sides and praises other contenders, Mr. Bloomberg and his aides have given Ms. Kennedy glowing reviews. “I have great admiration for her,” Mr. Bloomberg said Wednesday. (Last week, the mayor said that Ms. Kennedy “can do anything.”)

Ms. Kennedy’s ties to the Bloomberg administration run deep. As chief fund-raiser for the city’s public schools — like Mr. Bloomberg, she is personally wealthy and accepts a $1 salary — she worked closely with the chancellor, Joel I. Klein, whose wife is a close friend of Ms. Kennedy’s from Harvard.

Since Ms. Kennedy disclosed her interest in the Senate seat, Mr. Klein has become a prominent cheerleader, praising her ability to build coalitions and declaring that she “has a broad spectrum of support.”

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Kevin Sheekey Credit Rob Bennett for The New York Times

Ms. Kennedy, who lives on Park Avenue, around the corner from Mr. Bloomberg, has also grown close to the mayor through the city’s charity and dinner party circuits.

However, her biggest ally in the administration appears to be Mr. Sheekey, the mayor’s political maestro. Mr. Sheekey has become a trusted friend and adviser to Ms. Kennedy.

Mr. Sheekey, a 42-year-old native of Washington who worked for Mr. Bloomberg’s private company, has earned the trust of the Kennedy family through his work on behalf of California’s governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose wife, Maria Shriver, is Ms. Kennedy’s cousin.

After Mr. Bloomberg won re-election in 2005, Ms. Shriver called Mr. Sheekey to praise his work, and asked him to run her husband’s next campaign. Mr. Sheekey declined to leave Mr. Bloomberg’s side, but served as an informal political adviser to the governor.

As Ms. Kennedy considered whether to seek Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s seat in recent weeks, she and Mr. Sheekey discussed the possibility.

Mr. Sheekey had a hand in bringing together Ms. Kennedy and Josh Isay, a well-connected consultant who will have a central role in Mr. Bloomberg’s re-election campaign.

Mr. Bloomberg is one of Mr. Isay’s biggest clients, and Mr. Sheekey gave Mr. Isay “the green light” to take Ms. Kennedy on as a client, according to a Democrat who has spoken to Mr. Sheekey. Mr. Isay said he would not discuss how Ms. Kennedy became a client, and said he did not seek permission from Mr. Sheekey to work with her.

Separately, at a meeting this week, Mr. Sheekey described his role in helping organize the campaign-style swing Ms. Kennedy made on Wednesday through upstate New York, according to a person who attended the meeting and spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid antagonizing the Bloomberg administration.

“Sheekey’s up to his eyeballs in this,” said the person.

Lawrence O’Donnell, who worked with Mr. Sheekey in the office of the late Senator Daniel P. Moynihan in the early 1990s, said that in telephone conversations, he and Mr. Sheekey discussed which party strategists were best positioned to help arrange Ms. Kennedy’s debut political tour.

“Kevin said to me, ‘What do you think she needs to do?’ ” he said.

Mr. O’Donnell added: “I was just throwing out ideas about what she needed to do in order to pursue the seat. I had the sense that Kevin would let Caroline know that.”

Mr. Sheekey’s enthusiasm for Ms. Kennedy was apparent when he bumped into Jack Kittle, political director of the painters’ union. “He said I should support a fellow Irishman,” Mr. Kittle said.

The decision of Mr. Sheekey, who has also been engaging in give-and-take with reporters about Ms. Kennedy’s bid, to devote time to her effort has raised eyebrows among city lawmakers, who are confronting a budget shortfall.

As deputy mayor for intergovernmental relations, Mr. Sheekey is responsible for working with legislators in Washington and Albany to protect the city’s interests. Gov. David A. Paterson, in his spending plan this week, proposed cuts of $1 billion to the city, potentially forcing layoffs. “With everything that is going on, with the budget, the M.T.A. mess, I can’t imagine there is a lot of free time on anyone schedule,” said Mr. Liu, the Council member.

Still, some city lawmakers see a potential alliance between the Bloomberg administration and Ms. Kennedy as smart strategy.

“It’s important that the next senator is someone who has a close relationship with the city government,” said David Yassky, a city councilman.

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