Exercised control, with name for duke proposed (9)
I believe the answer is:
nominated
'proposed' is the definition.
('nominate' can be a synonym of 'propose')
'exercised control with name' is the wordplay.
'exercised control with' becomes 'nomina' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'name' becomes 'Ted'.
'nomina'+'ted'='NOMINATED'
'for duke' is the link.
This may not be correct. Some or all of it may be part of another bit of the clue.
(Other definitions for nominated that I've seen before include "selected" , "Proposed as a candidate" , "mentioned specifically" , "Put forward for election" .)