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 – U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) today sent an open letter to San Diego Mayor Bob Filner. The text of the letter follows:Dear Bob,We’ve known each other for a long time, and have worked together on many issues that are important to the people of San Diego – from creating jobs to protecting the environment to helping our veterans.So I am speaking to you now on a personal and professional level, and asking you to step down as mayor and get the help you need as a private citizen.I have already said publicly that you should resign your office as mayor because of the shocking revelations by many women about your behavior toward them.But now I must say this directly to you: Bob, you must resign because you have betrayed the trust of the women you have victimized, the San Diegans you represent and the people you have worked with throughout your decades in public life.I have worked for so many years to prevent and punish sexual violence and sexual harassment, wherever they occur. As we fight in the Senate to stand up for the men and women in our military who are survivors of sexual assault, I have heard their stories, seen the anguish in their faces, listened to them talk about the pain that will always be with them. Let me be clear: The latest revelations regarding your behavior toward women recovering from sexual assault – women who desperately need our help – have shaken me to my core.Bob, you have already hurt so many people. To avoid hurting your victims and the people of San Diego more than you already have, you should step down immediately.Sincerely,Barbara ||||| 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.”
– 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."