"Bouy Toy" to "Duke-Stir"

When the word came out that Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham was living in Washington on a yacht owned by his financial benefactor Mitchell Wade, I was hesitant to jump to the conclusion that the boat, named the "Duke-Stir" actually reference Cunningham's nickname.

I didn't think anyone in public service could be that foolish and arrogant. I thought that the maybe Wade had named the boat in honor of jazz great Duke Ellington. Wade sits on the board of the Ellington Fund, the fundraising arm of Washington's Duke Ellington School of the Arts. But, the reality of the situation is that it was indeed Duke Cunningham who asked to have the boat renamed as this story in Roll Call's Heard On the Hill column notes:

Sure, now it's called the "Duke-Stir." But the 42-foot Carver boat - yeah, the one that was raided by federal agents on Friday, a fact first reported by Roll Call — had a different name when Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-Calif.) became its unofficial helmsman. The yacht used to be called "Bouy Toy," so named by its former owners, a gay couple, according to sources at the Capitol Yacht Club.

Apparently, the fellas down at the marina kind of razzed ol’ Duke, a former "top gun" fighter pilot, about the gay-themed name. And apparently, Cunningham couldn't take it. He changed the boat's name from the sweet-and-saucy Bouy Toy to the mucho macho Duke-Stir in December 2004, according to Coast Guard records.

Duke is so sensitive. Sensitive and foolish and arrogant.