How many specs have to be compared, if a uC cannot drive a classical darlington array
Kalpak, the comparison that should have been made were at the original design. The 30uA (Ioh min) *1000 (hfe min for the darlington)= 30 mA and I suspect you are pulling more to the LEDs. Again the Ioh is a minimum value and thus, I guess that with the chips you have been using previously you have just been lucky.

The fact that something works (worked) does not prove it is right!

do not blame the chip manufacturer for just meeting the specs, that is precisely why the words "min" and "max" appear on the data sheet

Erik