Len Brown

Early years

Brown was born in Taumarunui, Ruapehu District, Manawatu-Wanganui Region. His family moved to Otara in Auckland when he was seven years old. He attended Mayfield Primary School, Papatoetoe Intermediate School and De La Salle College. He remembers his youth in prosperous small-town New Zealand fondly, remarking on them as "generous, generous days". His life growing up has been described as revolving around family, church, school and community, while parents Tom and Ngaire were described as strong believers in social equity and social justice as well as active in the community life. While not having grown up fully in Auckland, his family often travelled to see relatives there, his parents having originally moved to Taumarunui from South Auckland.

A lawyer by profession, Brown was a partner at law firm Wynyard Wood, and co-founded the Howick Free Legal Service.

Political career

He was first elected to the Manukau City council in 1992, and continued as councillor until 2004 when he did not run for re-election. He was also the chairperson of the Counties Manukau Health Council from 1998. Brown first ran for mayor of Manukau in 2004, and narrowly lost to long serving mayor Sir Barry Curtis; he lost by fewer than 600 votes. Brown had considered requesting a re-count due to the closeness of the vote, but decided that he had not been close enough to warrant it. Despite his affiliation with the New Zealand Labour Party since age 17, Brown did not run for election in the 2005 General Election, and instead returned to working for Wynyard Wood.

Mayor of Manukau

Brown announced his candidacy for the Manukau Mayoralty in 2006, 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 Wynard Wood in 2007 to focus on his candidacy full-time. In August 2007, both Quax and Brown were polling "neck and neck". Brown ran on several policies, including; capping rates at the cost of inflation, increasing public transport, and working with youth in the region.

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

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. Brown had successful heart bypass surgery two days later and made a full recovery, returning to mayoral duties after a few months. 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.

Mayor of Auckland campaign

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

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. His subsequent explanations for these purchases were also scrutinised at a council meeting, where Brown repeatedly slapped his face and got emotional. An advisor later explained that Brown's emotional behaviour was attributable to his use of a Maori tradition, which Brown subsequently denied.

Another council expense claim included an $810 dinner at a restaurant, which Brown has refused to discuss who was in attendance. 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.

Mayor of Auckland

As Mayor of Auckland, Brown has advocated the proposed City Rail Link, to boost public transport usage. In June 2013, the National Government agreed to financially support construction of the rail project, with construction to begin in 2020, though Brown wants construction started as early as 2016.

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.

Extramarital Affair

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

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