Following college, he became an intern within the Iowa Senate and began teaching social studies.

This time, he won both the primary and the general election, and proceeded to spend the next 10 years as a state senator with the Democratic Party.

[2] Among his accomplishments within the senate was the establishment of wind generators as a major source of electrical power within the state.

[1] In 2001, he criticized an attempt by the Iowa legislature to make Iowa the first state in the country to base its salaries for public school teachers on their performances in the classroom, calling it "...tragic and misdirected" and saying he felt teachers themselves had been allowed too little input.

[3] Following his career as senator, Fink returned to teaching at the high school level, where he remained for the next three decades.