Len Brown

Brown announced his candidacy for the Manukau City mayoralty in 2006,[16] Barry Curtis announced that he would not be running for re-election, and Brown's main opposition were former Olympic runner Dick Quax and radio personality Willie Jackson. Brown resigned from Wynyard Wood in 2007 to focus on his candidacy full-time. In August 2007, both Quax and Brown were polling "neck and neck".[17] Brown ran on several policies, including; capping rates at the cost of inflation, increasing public transport, and working with youth in the region.[18]

Brown won the election in October 2007 with more than 32,000 votes; his next closest rival Dick Quax had less than 18,000,[19] and the election was humorously termed a 'Lenslide' by some.[14] He was sworn in on 26 October 2007 at the Manukau City Council hall.[20]

On 31 May 2008 he suffered a heart attack, while at a music awards ceremony. The condition arose from a previously unrecognised congenital heart problem and Brown was admitted to Auckland Hospital.[21] Brown had successful heart bypass surgery two days later and made a full recovery, returning to mayoral duties after a few months.[22] His wife acknowledged that the attack was not stress-related, but rather a family issue, with Len's mother having died from a heart attack at 47.[14]

In August 2009, Brown announced that he would run for the mayoralty of the combined Auckland "super-city" in the 2010 Auckland mayoral election.[23] His campaign speech focused on delivering public transport, public ownership of the region's public assets, environmental protection, economic and social development.[23][24][25] He won the position by a majority of 65,945 votes over main rival candidate, Auckland City mayor John Banks,[1] on 9 October 2010, spending approximately $390,000.[26]

In June 2010, Brown came under media attention for matters relating to his spending on his council credit card and other council expense claims, which included items of a personal nature like toys, groceries and insect repellant.[27] His subsequent explanations for these purchases were also scrutinised at a council meeting, where Brown repeatedly slapped his face and got emotional.[28] An advisor later explained that Brown's emotional behaviour was attributable to his use of a Maori tradition, which Brown subsequently denied.[29] Another council expense claim included an $810 dinner at a restaurant, which Brown has refused to discuss who was in attendance.[30] He noted that the event was a fundraiser for a local singer for which the Council bought a table, an explanation later supported by the artist.[31]

Brown speaking at the 2016 2WALKandCYCLE Conference

As Mayor of Auckland, Brown was an advocate for the proposed City Rail Link,[32] to boost public transport usage. In June 2013, the National Government agreed to financially support construction of the rail project, and construction began in late-2015.[33]

Brown was re-elected to the mayoralty in 2013, gaining 46.6% of the vote. In response to the low voter turnout (at 34% the lowest ever recorded in Auckland), Brown said the next election should include electronic voting and take place on one day, instead of being spread out over three weeks.[6] In late 2015, he stated he would not contest the mayoralty at the 2016 election, and was succeeded as mayor by Phil Goff as a result of that election.[34]

Days after his October 2013 re-election, stories broke regarding Brown having a two-year extramarital affair with Bevan Chuang, a younger woman who served on an Auckland Council advisory board, and having sex with Chuang in the mayoral office and town hall.[35] Brown released a statement confirming the affair, though not the details on where they had sex.[36] Later in the week, Chuang claimed to have been pressured to go public by a member of mayoral rival John Palino's election team, which she later regretted doing.[37]

The Auckland Council launched an investigation into spending by the mayor, which backed up his insistence that he never spent council money on Chuang.[38] The report did find that he had received undisclosed upgrades from hotels around the city.[39] The Serious Fraud Office determined that the matter did not require further investigation or prosecution,[40] and leave to bring a private prosecution for corruption[41] was denied by the Solicitor-General for lack of proper evidence.[40]