Spitzer Leaves, Dinallo Stays

In 2007, when Spitzer nominated Dinallo to succeed Gregory Serio as New York insurance superintendent, Dinallo was the general counsel at Willis Group Holdings Ltd., London.

Dinallo and Paterson teamed up in February to announce the expansion of a pilot program that helps women-owned and minority-owned businesses get the surety bonds necessary to bid for public construction contracts.

Dinallo "has no plan to resign," Dinallo spokesman David Neustadt said in an e-mail.

Richard Poppa, president of the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of New York, says he would be surprised if the change in governors leads to "any wholesale changes."

For the insurance industry, "long term, I don't see this having any impact," Poppa says. "Short term, there will be a period of transition that will impact the legislative process and also the regulatory process as the new governor sorts through the issues and provides the guidance department heads will need. There probably won't be any significant shift."

Poppa says he has no knowledge about whether Paterson would want to make changes in personnel, but "my opinion would be he will probably want to keep the team intact as much as possible."