SAN DIEGO — Mayor Bob Filner will complete his "voluntary" behavioral modification therapy on Saturday, earlier than anticipated, his lawyers said Friday. 
 
 Filner will take "some personal time" and be unavailable for comment, said a statement by the law firm of Payne & Fears, which is assisting Filner in his defense against a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by a former staff member. He is set to return to City Hall on Aug. 19. 
 
 Filner will continue therapy as an outpatient, his lawyers said. 
 
 Filner had said he would be in the intensive therapy program the weeks of Aug. 5 and 12. But he reportedly started the program earlier than announced. 
 
 The law firm's announcement came as the last two City Council members called for Filner to bow to numerous demands that he resign and "allow the healing of our city to begin." 
 
 The call by Marti Emerald and Myrtle Cole, both Democrats, makes it unanimous: All nine council members want Filner gone because of accusations that he sexually harassed numerous women. 
 
 Also Friday, U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), a longtime ally, issued an open letter addressed to "Dear Bob," asking him to resign and seek long-term treatment. Boxer's letter had a personal tone, noting their long careers working for many of the same political causes. 
 
 "Bob, you have already hurt so many people," Boxer wrote. "To avoid hurting your victims and the people of San Diego more than you already have, you should step down immediately." 
 
 Filner, 70, elected in November as San Diego's first Democratic mayor in two decades, is hoping to ride out a tide of sexual misconduct accusations and demands by fellow politicians and others for him to resign. 
 
 Some 14 women have accused Filner of making unwanted and unpleasant sexual advances. One, former communications director Irene McCormack Jackson, has filed a sexual harassment lawsuit in San Diego County Superior Court seeking unspecified damages. 
 
 The accusations of the other 13 share a similar scenario: that they met Filner at a public event or while asking for his help on a public issue and that he made sexually inappropriate comments, asked them for dates, and, in some cases, kissed or touched them. 
 
 Among the 13 are prominent businesswomen, a retired Navy admiral, a political consultant, two college officials, a nurse seeking help for a wounded Marine and a longtime city employee. 
 
 Emerald and Cole said the breaking point came when two former military personnel, both victims of sexual assault during their military service, accused Filner of making crude advances starting at a conference designed to help women who have suffered sexual assault. 
 
 Filner's alleged victims are being interviewed by San Diego County Sheriff's Department investigators and personnel from the state attorney general's office. 
 
 With reporters scrambling to find where Filner was receiving the therapy, the most likely candidate was the Sexual Recovery Institute in Los Angeles. 
 
 Founded in 1995, the Pico-Robertson clinic specializes in helping men who cannot "take a month away from work to deal with their compulsive behavior" but want a "treatment program that could cover the same territory in half the time." 
 
 The clinic's website says it is "the nation's only comprehensive two-week intensive treatment program for sexual addiction." 
 
 The institute has a program for the weeks of Aug. 5 and 12, when Filner announced that he would be undergoing therapy to begin to change a long pattern of disrespectful, abusive behavior toward women. 
 
 A spokeswoman for the clinic declined Friday to confirm or deny that Filner was a client, citing federal laws about confidentiality of medical information. 
 
 The clinic attempts to shield the privacy of its clients. Staffers this week ordered television reporters parked near the facility to move as clients were arriving in a van. 
 
 In a video on the institute's website, founder Rob Weiss, a clinical social worker and sex addiction therapist, said the clinic helps people who have successful lives that are being disrupted by compulsive behavior involving sex. 
 
 "We can help restore some integrity to your life," Weiss said. 
 
 tony.perry@latimes.com ||||| Mayor Bob Filner is ending his intensive behavioral therapy triggered by sexual harassment allegations earlier than expected while officials on Friday said the locks had been changed at his office. 
 
 Meanwhile, his political support continued to crater as his last two allies on the City Council called for his resignation, making it unanimous, and U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer reiterated her call for him to step down in an impassioned open letter to the mayor. 
 
 It was another head-snapping day in the monthlong scandal that has enveloped City Hall as investigations by state, federal and local agencies continue into the sexual harassment claims and more. 
 
 City Attorney Jan Goldsmith confirmed that the locks were changed at the 11th-floor City Hall office of the mayor but said he couldn’t say why. 
 
 On Saturday, Filner Chief of Staff Lee Burdick explained. 
 
 "The fact is that I had the locks changed to protect the Mayor while he is away," Burdick told the Voice of San Diego via email. "My concern is/was that if anything was removed while the Mayor was away, it could raise all kinds of questions about preservation or spoliation of potential evidence. Because I could not possibly determine everyone who had keys, I believed it was necessary to ensure the integrity of his physical office in his absence. The Mayor will be given the keys upon his return." 
 
 She did not respond to requests for comment from U-T San Diego. 
 
 An attorney hired by Filner to represent him in a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by his former top communications aide, Irene McCormack Jackson, said Filner will continue his therapy as an outpatient. 
 
 “Upon completion of the treatment program, Mayor Filner is planning to continue therapy sessions on an outpatient basis,” said a statement from the office of attorney, James L. Payne of Los Angeles. “Mayor Filner is taking personal time next week and will be unavailable for comment. At this time, we do not have information as to when he will be available for comment.” 
 
 Bob Filner leaves therapy 
 
 The statement raised some confusion, saying Filner wouldn’t be completing his two-week intensive treatment program until Saturday. Burdick said he had already completed the program, according to news reports. 
 
 That distinction is noteworthy because Filner was originally scheduled to give a deposition in the sexual harassment case on Friday but he received a delay because it would conflict with his treatment. He had said he would begin the program this past Monday, Aug. 5, and return to work Aug. 19. 
 
 Even before all those developments, the day started out with big news: Councilwomen Myrtle Cole and Marti Emerald issued a joint statement demanding Filner resign, in which they said that more of his female staffers are reporting inappropriate behavior by the mayor. 
 
 “Now, additional women in his own office are telling investigators about harassment and abuse they suffered on a daily basis,” their statement said. “Based upon the ongoing disclosure of evidence Mayor Filner’s conduct is reprehensible and cannot be excused.” 
 
 Cole and Emerald, who had held out calling for Filner to step down, started of their statement by saying “enough is enough.” ||||| Greg Timms, left, signs a petition to recall San Diego Mayor Bob Filner, alongside Tana Piontek, right, at a stand set up in the parking lot of a shopping center Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2013, in San Diego.... (Associated Press) 
 
 Cecelia Taylor, left, explains a form to Tana Piontek, center, as Allie Thornbrue, right, waits to sign a petition to recall San Diego Mayor Bob Filner at a stand set up in the parking lot of a shopping... (Associated Press) 
 
 San Diego Mayor Bob Filner enters a black SUV parked near City Hall after loading boxes in the backseat in this photo tweeted by city employee Diana Palacios, Wednesday night, Aug. 21, 2013. A tentative... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this July 26, 2013 file photo, San Diego Mayor Bob Filner speaks during a news conference at city hall, in San Diego. Filner is expected to appear at City Hall on Monday, Aug. 19, 2013, when... (Associated Press) 
 
 The City Council voted 7-0 Friday on a deal that ends a political stalemate after more than a dozen women publicly identified themselves as targets of unwanted advances, including touching, forcible kisses and lurid comments. 
 
 The city's first Democratic mayor in 20 years has become a pariah in his own party since the allegations surfaced in July. All nine members of the City Council have insisted that he step down. 
 
 Todd Gloria, the Democratic City Council president, becomes acting mayor until a special election is held within 90 days after the resignation takes effect. 
 
 THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below. 
 
 The San Diego City Council met behind closed doors Friday to consider an agreement for Mayor Bob Filner to resign amid allegations of sexual harassment. 
 
 Dozens of people spoke for and against the mayor before the council convened behind closed doors to discuss confidential terms negotiated by Filner and City Attorney Jan Goldsmith. 
 
 "Without the mayor's resignation, our city will continue to be paralyzed by this scandal, progress will be arrested and our focus will continue to be monopolized by this dark chapter in our history," said Laura Fink, a political consultant who accused Filner of patting her buttocks in 2005 when she was deputy campaign manager to the then-congressman. 
 
 Rachel Laing, a spokeswoman for an effort to recall the mayor, said petition gatherers have collected 20,000 signatures in five days to qualify for the ballot but that she would accept a deal for the mayor to resign. 
 
 "Every day he's in office is a day that the city remains in paralysis and that his victims suffer," she told the council. 
 
 Still, many who came to the special meeting offered support to the politically isolated mayor, hailing the liberal Democrat's work on behalf of civil rights and struggling minority groups. 
 
 "When my children ask me, `Where were you when the public lynching of Mayor Filner took place?' I will tell them I was not an accessory," said Enrique Morones, president of immigrant advocacy group Border Angels. 
 
 Irma Castro, who praised the mayor for helping her low-income Latino neighborhood, carried a sign that read: "I was respected by Bob Filner." 
 
 Two people who were briefed on the settlement said the mayor would resign and the city would have to pay legal fees in the lawsuit by filed by his former communications director. One person said the city would pay for any potential damages. 
 
 The people spoke on condition of anonymity before terms of the agreement were made public. 
 
 City Attorney Goldsmith said earlier Friday that the city's only option to ending the turmoil was getting the 70-year-old mayor _ besieged by allegations of cornering, groping and forcibly kissing women _ out of office as quickly as possible. 
 
 ""We look at stability as the mayor resigning and a special election, that's what we're facing," Goldsmith said. 
 
 The biggest bargaining chip at the negotiating table for the city's first Democratic mayor in two decades was his refusal to resign. 
 
 A person with knowledge of the negotiations said the main sticking points during talks involved granting Filner indemnity and covering his legal fees in the sexual harassment lawsuit. The person was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke only on condition of anonymity. 
 
 That provision could prove tricky for the council, which was unanimous in wanting Filner to quit but also promised to not use taxpayer dollars to defend the mayor, who is facing accusations from at least 17 women. 
 
 "Without his resignation being part of it, it's a nonstarter," Republican Councilman Mark Kersey said Thursday. 
 
 The deal was negotiated between Filner, his lawyers, Goldsmith and two City Council members. Attorney Gloria Allred, representing Filner's former communication's director, Irene McCormack Jackson, in the lawsuit said she and her client were not a party to the proposed resolution and she did not know its details. 
 
 But she said the City Council should not support it if in exchange for his resignation the city is going to use taxpayer money to pay Filner's legal bills. 
 
 "The mayor's resignation should not be bought at the expense of his victims," she said. "It would be morally wrong and hypocritical for the city to align itself with the mayor by helping him pay his legal fees." 
 
 San Diego is not new to political scandals _ Mayor Dick Murphy resigned in 2005 amid a financial crisis and Mayor Roger Hedgecock stepped down in 1985 after a felony conviction for conspiracy in connection with illegal campaign contributions _ but even so Democratic consultant Chris Crotty said this has reached a new level. 
 
 The City Council is in a no-win situation if Filner is demanding coverage of his legal fees in exchange for resigning, Crotty said. 
 
 If voters were to decide, Crotty said: "I bet most would choose to hold their nose, say OK, and pay the money to get him out." 
 
 And it may be a moot point anyway, he said: Under California law the city must defend Filner even if the City Council ends up saying it won't. What's more, after all the dust has settled, the city also could still be facing the lawsuit. 
 
 Filner, a former 10-term congressman and college professor, has acknowledged disrespecting and intimidating women but has denied any sexual harassment. 
 
 All nine members of the City Council, along with a laundry list of fellow Democrats, including U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer and U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, have called on Filner to quit. 
 
 In Scottsdale, Ariz., the Democratic National Committee voted unanimously on Friday to demand Filner's resignation. The resolution passed on a voice vote of 230 committee members at the DNC's summer meeting. 
 
 McCormack was the first woman to go public with allegations against Filner. She claimed the mayor asked her to work without panties, demanded kisses, told her he wanted to see her naked and dragged her in a headlock while whispering in her ear. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press writers Elliot Spagat and Michael R. Blood contributed to this report. Blood reported from Los Angeles.
– San Diego Mayor Bob Filner promised to undergo two weeks of "intensive" therapy at a clinic after a spate of sex-harassment accusations, but he's ducked out after just a week, reports the Los Angeles Times. His lawyers say he'll continue therapy as an outpatient and remains on track to return to work as scheduled on Aug. 19. Let's hope he has the new keys: The Union-Tribune reports that the locks on the mayor's office were changed yesterday, though it's unclear why. Could it be that Filner is finally getting ready to quit? The number of women accusing him of making crude, sometimes physical, advances has risen to 14. That includes two former members of the military who were victims of sexual assault during their service; both say Filner hit on them—at a conference for sexual assault victims. Filner has now lost the support of every single member of the City Council, and Sen. Barbara Boxer yesterday implored him to resign in an open letter. "Bob, you have already hurt so many people," she wrote. "To avoid hurting your victims and the people of San Diego more than you already have, you should step down immediately."