Kelly Emerson hasn’t left politics behind.

Emerson surprised many by resigning her position as Island County commissioner earlier this month. She is a Republican and represented District No. 3.

Last week, however, she filed in Kitsap County to run for the county auditor position. She is now a Bremerton resident, according to her filing document.

During an interview Monday, Emerson said she found that being a commissioner was a bad fit for her.

“Frankly, it was just a slow process for being able to have any reward,” she said. “It took so long to make even the most minor change.

“I’m a person who wants quicker results.”

Emerson said she didn’t want the “citizens of Island County’s investment” in her to go to waste, so she decided to seek a different office.

Emerson said she’s learned a lot in three years about how county government works.

Emerson said she chose to run for Kitsap County auditor because she’s interested in the diverse office, especially the financial division. She wants to ensure transparency and grant compliance.

Plus, the current auditor isn’t running again, though there is another candidate in the race. Dolores Gilmore, of Port Orchard, is running as a Democrat.

Emerson said she and her husband, Ken, currently have houses in Oak Harbor, Camano Island and Bremerton, though they may be looking to reduce their real estate holdings.

As a county commissioner, Emerson was controversial from the start. She filed a lawsuit against the county and a former commissioner after the Island County Planning Department slapped a stop-work order on a backyard project her husband was building without a permit.

The Emersons lost their lawsuit. They later settled the $37,000 in fines and fees they owed the county by paying a $5,000 fine.

Emerson initially described herself as a leader in the Tea Party movement in Washington state, but later claimed she was never involved in the Tea Party.

While Emerson is apparently distancing herself from her Tea Party roots, a video of the former commissioner speaking at a 2011 Tea Party rally is posted online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqe7h2J2S9k.

“It was sad having to have to give up spending so much time with the Tea Party,” Emerson said in the video.

Emerson also refers to the Tea Party candidates in the video as “our candidates.”

On the board of commissioners, Emerson got into several verbal tussles with her colleagues. She was stripped of her role as chairwoman after she attended a meeting — thus creating a quorum — in defiance of the commissioners’ agreement.

Emerson was also criticized for missing meetings and leaving meetings early. She even left her last meeting early, after announcing her resignation.

When asked whether she wanted to hear what her fellow commissioners wanted say, she replied, “I never have.”

Yet she still had vocal supporters in the community, including followers of a conservative blog that’s served as her chief defender.