This does look like an instance of the increasingly common but still marginal use of had+pp to mark remote past, in contrast to the simple past marking a more recent past.  I've run into this fairly often in the speech and writing of my students, and when they understand that their usage is making a grammatical distinction that Standard English marks lexically if at all they have little trouble adapting to the more formal academic register.  

Herb

Herbert F. W. Stahlke, Ph.D.
Emeritus Professor of English
Ball State University
Muncie, IN  47306
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________________________________________
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Beth Young [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: November 30, 2009 3:55 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: thinking of Brad

Hi everyone,

I just spoke with a member of the community (a very nice 81yo man) who called the dept to ask a grammar question, and Brad, I thought of you. :)  The caller read to me from a letter from his congressman that began with this sentence:

"In the past, you had contacted me in regard to the Obama/Pelosi healthcare bill."

The caller wanted to know the name of "that tense that uses 'had'."  I think he was planning to write back to his congressman and tell him to make better verb choices.

Beth

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