[Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini, Mini Pro, Xperia Pro, A] Ticklefish:
Interesting...I don't actually know. Your expanded screen consists of basically four xml files stacked on top of each other.

You have your power_widget_layout.xml first, then your quickpanel_brightness_settings.xml, followed by your status_bar_expanded.xml with your status_bar_tracking.xml at the bottom.

You could try moving the contents of the quickpanel_brightness_settings.xml into your status_bar_expanded.xml. This would give you this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<com.android.systemui.statusbar.ExpandedView android:orientation="vertical" android:focusable="true" android:descendantFocusability="afterDescendants"
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<LinearLayout android:orientation="horizontal" android:background="@drawable/title_bar_portrait" android:paddingTop="3.0dip" android:paddingRight="3.0dip" android:paddingBottom="5.0dip" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content">
<com.android.systemui.statusbar.CarrierLabel android:visibility="gone" android:textAppearance="?android:textAppearanceLarge" android:textColor="#ff0287a8" android:layout_gravity="center_vertical" android:paddingLeft="4.0dip" android:paddingBottom="1.0dip" android:layout_width="0.0dip" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:layout_marginLeft="5.0dip" android:layout_marginTop="1.0dip" android:layout_weight="1.0" />
<com.android.systemui.statusbar.StatusBarJellyHeaderView android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
<TextView android:textColor="@android:color/transparent" android:layout_gravity="center_vertical" android:id="@id/clear_all_button" android:paddingLeft="15.0dip" android:paddingRight="15.0dip" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:layout_marginTop="4.0dip" android:layout_marginBottom="1.0dip" android:text="@string/status_bar_clear_all_button" style="@style/Awesome.Button" />
</LinearLayout>
<com.android.systemui.statusbar.quickpanel.BrightnessSettingsView android:orientation="vertical" android:background="#00ffffff" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content">
<LinearLayout android:gravity="center_vertical" android:orientation="horizontal" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:layout_weight="1.0">
<ImageView android:gravity="center_vertical" android:id="@android:id/icon" android:layout_width="48.0dip" android:layout_height="48.0dip" android:layout_marginLeft="8.0dip" android:src="@drawable/quickpanel_brightness_icon" />
<TextView android:textSize="12.0dip" android:textColor="#ffffffff" android:gravity="center_vertical" android:id="@id/title" android:background="@null" android:layout_width="0.0dip" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:layout_marginLeft="5.0dip" android:text="@string/brightness_settings_title" />
<SeekBar android:gravity="center_vertical" android:id="@id/brightness" android:paddingLeft="0.0dip" android:paddingTop="10.0dip" android:paddingRight="10.0dip" android:paddingBottom="10.0dip" android:layout_width="0.0dip" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:progressDrawable="@drawable/brightness_seekbar" android:layout_weight="1.0" />
<CheckBox android:textSize="12.0dip" android:textColor="#ffffffff" android:gravity="right|center" android:id="@id/automatic" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:layout_marginRight="10.0dip" android:text="@string/brightness_settings_automatic" />
</LinearLayout>
</com.android.systemui.statusbar.quickpanel.BrightnessSettingsView>
<FrameLayout android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:layout_weight="1.0">
<ScrollView android:id="@id/scroll" android:fadingEdge="none" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:overScrollMode="ifContentScrolls">
<com.android.systemui.statusbar.NotificationLinearLayout android:orientation="vertical" android:id="@id/notificationLinearLayout" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content">
<TextView android:textAppearance="@style/TextAppearance.StatusBar.Title" android:id="@id/noNotificationsTitle" android:background="@drawable/shade_bgcolor" android:paddingLeft="5.0dip" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:text="@string/status_bar_no_notifications_title" />
<TextView android:textAppearance="@style/TextAppearance.StatusBar.Title" android:id="@id/ongoingTitle" android:background="@drawable/shade_bgcolor" android:paddingLeft="5.0dip" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:text="@string/status_bar_ongoing_events_title" />
<LinearLayout android:orientation="vertical" android:id="@id/ongoingItems" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
<TextView android:textAppearance="@style/TextAppearance.StatusBar.Title" android:id="@id/latestTitle" android:background="@drawable/shade_bgcolor" android:paddingLeft="5.0dip" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:text="@string/status_bar_latest_events_title" />
<LinearLayout android:orientation="vertical" android:id="@id/latestItems" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
</com.android.systemui.statusbar.NotificationLinearLayout>
</ScrollView>
<ImageView android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:src="@drawable/title_bar_shadow" android:scaleType="fitXY" />
</FrameLayout>
</com.android.systemui.statusbar.ExpandedView>

but that would leave the question of what to do with the now empty quickpanel_brightness_settings.xml...

I'd be tempted to delete it just to see what happens...you've made a backup, right?

What I was hoping was that you would have a xml file that would call all these other xml files. That way we could just swap some of the lines around and we'd be done.

It might be worth asking your rom's developer, I think. You might be looking at a smali edit here and I'm still no expert with that. Yet...