Hmmm
As the original asker ...
It is a camper AND 
it has a little doorjamb like button AND
I just turn the handle to release the brake.

So why have the button? Can't be just to check the light?
Or is it broken and I'm suppose to push it to release the brake?

> Ah, but the person who asked the original question doesn't have a
> Vanagon.  She has a Bus and in a Bus there is a little push-button
> switch (like the ones in the doorjambs) that turns off the brake light
> when the parking brake is released.  Bus parking brake handles don't
> have little buttons for release, you just turn 'em and release.

Katherine A. Bouton
1976 VW Westfalia Camper Deluxe
College of Marine Studies
University of Delaware