ALBANY -- Two top staffers in the Paterson administration are leaving the governor who is mired in low poll numbers as he faces a 2010 election.

Insurance Superintendent Eric Dinallo is leaving to become the Henry Kaufman Visiting Professor of Finance at New York University's Stern School of Business. He was hired at $127,000 a year.

Dinallo was a holdover from the administration of Gov. Eliot Spitzer and had been a key player in Spitzer's two terms as attorney general, where he forced reforms on Wall Street.

Gov. David Paterson also says his top energy adviser, Paul DeCotis, will leave soon to join the Long Island Power Authority, a state entity. He makes $162,000. DeCotis will be vice president of power markets. DeCotis also served in Spitzer's administration.