I ran St. Cago's Dual lever (tektro) brake with some promax v-brakes. After many crashes (my fault, not the brakes' fault), the lever arm eventually broke (aluminum can only take so many hits before it fails, forged or not). That first lever lasted a good 4 months of 3+ times a week play.
I looked for something with a hinged opening and the ability to use the same threaded screw as my tektro lever had previously. Apparently tektro has a more "upscale" line called TRP and so I picked up one of their BX4 with the magnesium lever. So far so good. St. Cago's Dual lever setup dropped right in (had to sand down some edges to get it to fit just right). I do like the feeling on this brake lever though.
For your brake issue, I would suggest something with a bit more lever so you can get more fingers on it comfortably and use it when you need to. Lube down cable-housing will help as well.
anything that will allow you to pull with more fingers than the goldfinger (which is supposed to be a one-finger lever?) would be an improvement. tektro levers are pretty cheap and reasonable quality, or if you have a bike co-op/church type place you could go and see what they have laying around.
something that really helped me out was not setting my brake pads right up against the rims. that let's me get more leverage on the lever, as it were, and pull stronger. i'm using a f/b setup with tektro road brakes and pyramid dual lever. http://www.amazon.com/Pyramid-Alloy-Mountain-Cable-Brake/dp/B000AO7H16
-my stomach is a pickle-