Brake light wiring issue

Step on the brake pedal, the brake lights come on. This is good, the switch works. But, the driver's side light is brighter than the passenger side light. Keep brake pedal is depressed, turn on the running lights and the passenger side brake light turns off. Keep the brake pedal depressed, turn off running lights and the brake light comes back on. What the...?

And it seems as though my brakes are locked up. This is obviously not related to the wiring issue above. But, does it have anything to do with the brake light switch? I've seen a couple of threads that link the switch to locked brakes because the switch is not adjusted properly.

You're lucky. I step on my brakes and my reverse lights go on..

Mark - The brake light problem is a bad ground for the light on the passenger side of the car. You may need to run a wire directly from the light socket to ground. The locked up brakes is definitely a brake light switch adjustment. Unscrew the brake light switch until the brake lights come on without stepping on the brake pedal (ignition on, disconnect the wire to the coil to keep it from heating up during this adjustment). Once the brake lights come on, screw the switch back in until the lights just go off, then turn the switch in about 3/4 turn and lock it down at that point.
Cheers,

I adjusted the brake light exactly how you suggested. The brakes still seem to be dragging (the car is up on jack stands). The brake lines are new; I just primed and bled the lines. Anything else I should look at?

Also, how are the tail lights grounded? Are they grounded to the body with the screws? The side lamps in the rear have ground wires on the side of the lamp holder. The tail lights don't have these- am I missing something?

I have new paint in my trunk. Is this preventing ground contact? The light fixtures are in pretty good shape. Should I scuff the paint under sections of the fixture or insert an external tooth lock washer that would cut through the paint to make the ground connection?