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The story examines the city's multi-million dollar bond business. Municipal bonds are sold by securities firms through no-bid contracts, and Mayor Richard Daley is giving that business to politically connected Wall Street and Lacily Street firms and attorneys who donate to his campaigns. Simpson found that the law firms doing most of the bond business anted up more than $91,000 in donations to Daley's 1995 mayoral campaign, in a practice known in the industry a "pay-to-play." The city has sold $8.7 billion in bonds this decade, but city records show that the securities firms the city hires to sell the largest bonds are all white owned. The largest issue handled by a Chicago based, minority owned firm was a 1994 sale of $24 million.