A second Democrat who failed in a bid to become Manhattan president has been rewarded with a lucrative city job after crossing party lines and backing Mayor Bloomberg.

Brian Ellner will make $165,000 a year as the senior counselor for community affairs at the Department of Education – $30,000 more than he would have been paid if he’d become the borough’s president. Last month, another losing candidate who endorsed the mayor, Margarita Lopez, was appointed to a $162,183 a year position on the board of the Housing Authority.

Mr. Bloomberg likes to say that City Hall is free of political pressure because he funds his own campaigns. But the mayor has populated his administration with former campaign staffers – typical for all elected officials.

“I’m sure he’s intelligent,”the former parks commissioner and the president of New York Civic, Henry Stern, said of Mr. Ellner’s hiring. “But $165,000 is an awful lot of money to reward someone for his new-found fidelity.”

The education department officially announced Mr. Ellner’s appointment this week. Like most management positions, the job was not advertised.

Education officials say Mr. Ellner’s salary is slightly less than his predecessor’s.They rejected the suggestion that Mr. Ellner was hired for anything other than his qualifications.

“It is outrageous and irresponsible to suggest that after a decade of experience working with schools and fighting for the communities of New York City that Brian will be anything but an outstanding asset to the Department of Education,” a spokesman for the Department of Education, David Cantor, said.

Mr. Ellner graduated from a selective New York City public high school, Bronx Science, and later served on Manhattan’s Community School Board 2 from 1999 until 2004 – when the boards were dissolved at Mr. Bloomberg’s urging because of concerns about corruption.

Mr. Ellner also worked as a lawyer on several education issues, including the landmark Abbot v. Burke decision that required New Jersey to spend as much money on its so-called special needs districts as it spends on suburban schools.

As a candidate for Manhattan president last year, Mr. Ellner made waves by appearing in a television ad arm-in-arm with his boyfriend. Mr. Bloomberg’s campaign hired him to woo gay voters after he lost a nine-way Democratic primary.

Manhattan’s president, Scott Stringer, declined to discuss the idea a losing opponent earning more than him in a city job.

“Brian Ellner is talented and incredibly capable of doing a great job at the Department of Education,” a spokesman for Mr. Stringer, Eric Pugatch, said. Mr. Ellner declined to comment through a spokesman at the education department. Ms. Lopez did not return a call left on her cell phone last night. Ms. Lopez, a former City Council member, declared Mr. Bloomberg an “honorary lesbian” earlier this year, before she was appointed to the Housing Authority.

“Honestly, we love each other. I love him and he loves me. Why is that? I don’t know.” Ms. Lopez said in January.

A spokesman for the mayor, Stuart Loeser, said that both Mr. Ellner and Ms. Lopez were highly qualified for their jobs. “The mayor is proud to have worked with Mr. Ellner and Ms. Lopez in the past and he is thrilled that each has accepted an invitation to join his administration,” Mr. Loeser said.

“Margarita Lopez started as a tenant activist for affordable and decent housing and from that became a community board member,” Mr. Loeser said. “And Brian Ellner has a sterling resume and served as a school board member.”

The executive director of the watchdog group Citizens Union, Dick Dadey, said there was nothing out of the ordinary about Mr.Ellner being hired out of Mr. Bloomberg’s campaign staff.

“This is how politics works,” Mr. Dadey said. “There’s nothing wrong with elected officials hiring people who worked on their campaign for positions within their administrations so long as the decisions are based on merit and qualification and not just political connections.”