There was even a certain schadenfreude watching his bumbling and often ignorant efforts from afar.
The saviour of Auckland, the Mr Fixit, is anything but.
The super city’s woes are a long way from Invercargill or Oamaru.
If arrogant, dominant Auckland suffers somewhat, then so be it. It serves them right.
The obvious fallacy in this attitude is the importance of Auckland – and the regions as well — to the prosperity and coherence of what is a tiny country.
We are all in the same small waka.
Mr Brown and half Auckland’s city councillors last week decided, in one respect, to paddle their own waka.
On the mayor’s casting vote, the council decided to withdraw from the sector group Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ).
This was, supposedly, not just to save money but also to throw the middleman overboard.
Auckland, it was claimed, would be more effective as its own direct Government lobbyist.
LGNZ was another bureaucracy, and part of the incestuous Wellington political beltway.
Typically, Mr Brown was loose with the facts. The organisation had a "boozy culture" and he had played in a band before "800 members of local boards getting pissed and dancing the night long" at a Bay of Islands conference.
There was a 150-member Community Boards Conference there in 2015.
LGNZ has not held its conference in the Bay of Islands.
There are disagreements over the costs. Mr Brown said these were $650,000.
Auckland’s subscriptions are $350,000 and conference costs might total another $20,000.
But, added Mr Brown, there are expenses of staff time managing the relationship.
Differences are also stark on savings lost through the departure, notably over a scheme to save electricity and therefore street lighting costs.
LGNZ is also a means for slightly cheaper rates on debt.
Mr Brown has form with LGNZ. The Far North District Council withdrew in 2008 when he was mayor there. That decision was reversed the next year.
LGNZ did not help itself when it agreed not to oppose the Government’s Three Waters’ changes, so-called LGNZ "treason".
This upset many of its members and gave weight to the charge it was too close to prevailing Wellington influences.
Nonetheless, every member of just about every organisation potentially will have gripes and disagreements.
That is the way of the rough-and-tumble world.
Mostly, issues are worked through or tolerated for the greater good.
Mr Brown’s "Auxit", as Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau called it, comes at a pivotal time for local government.
It is not only desperate for alternative funding to rates but it is also being gutted in large chunks.
Coming first is Three Waters, stripping large parts of local functions.
On the near horizon are resource management changes, with regional bodies performing traditional planning functions.
Then there is the looming wider local government review, which could lead to amalgamations and further centralisation.
Local government faces the prospect of being left with only the likes of libraries, parks and dog control. Against this background, the sharing of lobbying power, knowledge, successes, failures and best practice are all the more important.
Christchurch, after LGNZ Three Waters stance, had been on the verge of leaving the organisation.
Mayor Phil Mauger now says it is better to work from within "the tent".
There is nothing wrong with questioning the status quo and tipping over an apple cart or three.
Conventional wisdom and standard practices are not sacrosanct.
There are, though, also times and places for collaboration and co-operation, for consensus and listening.
Supposedly, Mr Brown was the fixit man to shake up Auckland and make things happen.
So far, at least, he has failed at each step.
His push to withdraw the city from LGNZ is another example of his blinkered ignorance.
