I agree with Dan; this is a very simple project that has gotten way out of hand. I have never in my life heard of turning things off by "shorting them out". Goofy question maybe, but did you guys start with a "specification"?
I'm jumping in here late, but why are you doing this this way? There are many, many much easier ways of doing this. An led driver IC and a microcontroller (after your SMPS) is a much easier way to go. Check out the TI part TLC5917 for an led driver. An offline switcher like the "Viper" series...