By Marina Villeneuve, The Associated Press
AUGUSTA, Maine - Federal documents indicate Maine didn't formally ask about the legality of transferring $13.4 million in federal funds for needy kids until after it had reversed course and replenished the money.
Maine's Democratic state auditor chastised the Department of Health and Human Services for improperly transferring funding for low-income children to elderly programming.
Republican Gov. Paul LePage's administration, which returned the funds by July, blamed the government for failing to clarify how states can spend transferred funds.
But correspondence obtained by The Associated Press shows it wasn't until later - on Aug. 15 - that Maine DHHS asked to clarify "ambiguous'' rules. A federal official said a decades-old law is crystal clear that the money must go to needy families.