Daylight Disinfectant? Credit: Occupy Portland

[Clarifications: The following clarifications have been made since the original publication of this post. The caption in one of the photos below has been changed from “filming himself” to “videotaping and recording his voice.” Also Daniel Sandini disputes the allegation that he is in any organized “anti-Occupy group.” The title has been changed to reflect this.]

The folks with Occupy Portland’s multimedia team have figured out who’s behind Daylight Disinfectant, one of the semi-secret-filming outfits who’d haunted the Chapman and Lownsdale camps for the month they existed and have been haunting Occupy-relate events since.

Say hello to Dan Sandini. Blogtown regulars might remember him as the fellow who was rather roughly and brusquely booted from a candidates forum at a North Portland church last year. I’ve seen him around Occupy here and there, and wondered if he was with either Daylight or AntiOccupyPortland.

(I’d last encountered Sandini at a Tea Party rally this spring. He accosted me on camera for not saying the Pledge of Allegiance, but then relented when he remembered, gratefully, that I’d actually tried to get his side of the church-ouster story. Since then, we’ve been friendly.)

In recent weeks, Daylight Disinfectant produced the viral footage of an occupier bitching out some of the TV reporters who’d been covering Occupy, as well as the “triumphant” tale of a tipsy couple of looky-loos who’d “liberated” an American flag amid the street party before Occupy’s eviction.

Sandini has a partner who’s also been around Occupy occasionally with a Flip camera held slyly at waist height—a guy with long hair, John Lennon glasses, and a winter cap. He vaguely resembles Wiley Wiggins (for all you Linklater geeks out there.)

I can’t fault Sandini too much for his tactics—his camera is usually always front and center. It’s a free country, and you should watch your lips if you see someone you don’t know with a camera and you don’t want to wind up out of context on YouTube. But his partner, with the camera held sneakily out of sight while he engages people? That’s some bullshit—and I’ve made sure to tell him that when I’ve seen him doing it.

Sandini, shown videotaping and recording his voice heckling Michael Moore. The video from Sandinis perspective is on Daylight Disinfectants YouTube channel.
  • Occupy Portland
  • Sandini, shown videotaping and recording his voice heckling Michael Moore. The video from Sandini’s perspective is on Daylight Disinfectant’s YouTube channel.
Daylight Disinfectant?
  • Occupy Portland
  • Daylight Disinfectant?

Denis C. Theriault is the Portland Mercury's News Editor. He writes stories about City Hall and the Portland Police Bureau, focusing on issues like homelessness, police oversight, insider politics, and...

40 replies on “Anti-Occupy “Daylight Disinfectant” Revealed?”

  2. You fault a guy for having a camera at waist-level, but not some guy using his toddler as a human shield?
    You didn’t say anything to that guy, right?
    This whole ‘uncovering who is behind the anti-occupy video’ thing is really, really weird if you ask me.
    Like Junior Nixons out there with a hit list.

  4. Dude, it’s creepy.
    Instead of planning their next move to combat corporate greed, the 1%, etc etc etc etc, – some guys have been spending alot of time trying to find out who dared to put out unflattering video of them.
    Creepy.

  9. No, I don’t feel sorry for him one bit – except when he got his camera smashed into his face at that Kitzhaber speech.
    Sort of…
    He and his fellow Tea baggers are part of the problem, if you ask me.
    But these tactics by ‘occupy’ are no less glaring.

  10. frankieb assumes there was a crack team of investigators working around the clock to figure out who Daylight Disinfectant is.

    The value of pulling away their anonymity is they’re now held to a greater standard of accountability. Pseudonymous and secret filming of Occupy Portland has so far resulted in a lot of false rumors with little gained—other than a video of one nutty man screaming at KGW.

  11. Actually, frankieb, if you were following my tweets that Thursday, you’d know that I *did* bawl the guy out for bringing a toddler to the riot lines. He sat there and ignored me. It didn’t make Blogtown, but it happened. Having got two little ones myself, it still makes me shake a little.

  12. Also! I second what Reid says about transparency and accountability. If you’re gonna film, be honest and don’t bait people.

  13. I certainly don’t don’t think of occupy as able to assemble a ‘crack team’ of any kind.
    Just the process needed to assemble one would require meeting upon endless debate meeting.
    But someone has spent some time on this, obviously, as it is only now coming to light.

  15. Denis, I’m sorry to push that point about the guy with his kid again. No, I didn’t read your tweets. I try to avoid most of them anyway, as pointless.
    I’m glad to hear that you did say something to him.
    My apologies sir.
    But, as far as this ‘exposé’ thing goes – well, what now?
    To me, this seems like a example of a movement not interested in moving forword with goals but rather bent on some sort of revenge.

  18. For someone who believes in the power of “daylight” its ironic he bundles himself up like the unibomber.

    I see a guy with too much time on his hands.

    And is the other guy wearing a wig?

  19. Denis,

    RIOT lines? so are you admitting that the protests weren’t peaceful? so in essence the police DID THE EXACT RIGHT THING TO DISBAND THE(sorry here, I can’t seem to double capitalize the next word) RIOT?

  22. Denis getting accosted by that guy for not saying the pledge is also pretty revealing.
    Even as a vet, I abhor dogmatic patriotism.
    Oh, yeah – what Todd and Blabby said.

  24. Wiley Wiggins is Michael Strickland (MichaelStrick9) He’s a Ron paul supporter and in a metal band Midnight Winter currently riding high at 185th on the Portland Metal Charts.

  26. Denis — nice try on the reporting… but do you have ANY examples of videos being taken out of context? ANY? As far as I can tell they let the people at OP ramble as long as they want. It’s far more entertaining.

    Which makes me curious, are there things you don’t want exposed from the occupy people? Are there things that have to be covered up?

  27. You sound like you had to really work to find out who Daylight Disinfectant really is! It was never a secret… All you had to do was listen to the radio where he has frequently and freely shared his commentary along with a link to his You Tube Channel which he spells the name D-A-Y-L-I-G-H-T-D-I-S-I-N-F-E-C-T-A-N-T to all who cares to listen. Awesome sleuth job.

  28. You guys are fucking GENIUSES! You figured it out, ONLY ONE WEEK after the camp got razed!

    I stand in awe of your intellectual horsepower. Look out teabaggers, Mike Wallace is coming for you!

  29. That name, it doesn’t make good sense. The saying is “Daylight makes the best disinfectant” meaning that when wrongdoing is exposed to the light of day, shown to be immoral or illegal, it is either curtailed or punished. This could be read by those unfamiliar with that saying (and lets face it, we are getting dumber and dumberer) that there is disinfectant for daylight. Why would you want to disinfect daylight?

  30. It only took 23 posts until the typical leftist message of peace, “I hope his whole family dies.” How soon before you post his address? Good thing that Dan carries, in case any of you get the idea to carry out your threats.

  31. That’s pretty funny. The Michael Moore heckling video has one dozen views on youtube. My Potter Puppet Pals video featuring naked Snape has 820. BWAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!1!!!

  34. Hah, as soon as I read long hair and Lennon glasses I didn’t even have to scroll down to know who that guy was! I met him the very first day of the occupation; he introduced himself to me as “Jason” I believe and was quite chatty… Struck me as very odd and out of place. He said he was a Ron Paul supporter and was giving me info on his campaign, then asked me for my name so he could “find me on facebook”. Had a feeling something was off..

  37. @blabby,

    you can’t have it both ways. It was either a riot, or a peaceful protest. If it was the former as you claim, then a kids’ presence should be of no concern.

    @Todd,

    Thank you for your clarification on what Stephan meant. While we are all here, is there any other statements from third parties you’d like to clear up for us?

  38. Heh… I am the guy at the end who was holding Livestream yelling at this douchebag “Who’s paying you?!”

    I am also the guy this douchebag caught on the street and accused me of pushing him. Yes… I let out a barrage of “You’re a douchebag” and… frankly… I am OK with it. I mean, the guy IS a douchebag…

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